Bada Bing, Bada Boom!
by Clichesbullet
Summary: I never really understood why people had such a hard time distinguishing the twins; Rebecca had a sweet and serene face, sorta like an angel. Rachel was the one with the permanent evil glare towards me.- Paul imprints on his worst nightmare.
1. Chapter 1: Thursday

**Bada ****Bing****, Bada Boom!**

**A/N:**_I'm really sorry for this poor fic. I wonder if there'll be enough readers out there to really appreciate it because I really think this one is actually funny but anyway, it's just my opnion. If you don't like Paul/Rachel stories (although I doubt there are more than three of them) you can always check my other fics which are directed to more, let's say, mainstream shippers. Anyway, The complete plot of this fic came when Jacob said in Breaking Dawn that Rachel took the whole wolf thing easily enough so I decided to make this story last a week. _

_Each chapter has a name of one of the days of the week in which Paul tries to convince Rachel (and himself) that he loves her. The names come from The Cure's song "Friday I'm in love" so I hope you enjoy. I'm gonna try to go as in character as possible though is a bit hard when there isn't much Paul nor Rachel in the books; so I found my own explanations for their personalities and all that crap._

_Please review and check out my other fics on my profile. And if you feel like it you can always send me an pm saying whatever you want - you'll be amazed by how nice I am *cough cough*. _

**Chapter 1: Thursday I don't care about you**

Oh, look, rain. How surprising! Apparently, once again, summer seemed to forget completely about Washington and, outside my window, dark grey clouds collided with each other causing earth quaking thunders. I let out a long deep breath. Was a bit of sunlight too much to ask? I mean, is not like I _get_ cold or anything but running around at night while an amount of water that could easily have the equivalent weight of three hundred elephants falls in your head and fur isn't exactly delightful.

As if it wasn't enough, imagine doing this while Jared thinks about making out sessions with Kim, Quil keeps wondering if Claire got better from her stomach flu, Jakes moans over a soon to be corpse married woman and Sam drowns in deep remorse for leaving Emily home alone for yet another night - what, by the way, leads to Leah getting pissed off and start thinking about Embry's parents just to annoy the rest of us.

Oh yeah, life is a picnic.

But no, not tonight. Tonight was my first night off watchdog duty and I was allowed to spend a few hours inside my own house for a change wearing only my underwear or maybe less (though that's not exactly breaking a habit for shape shifters, I know) and watching sports on TV. The only drawback would possibly be living through the night with my own cooking but that'd be ok, I thought. As long as there was no _Canis lupus _for me today, I'd be great.

I turned on the TV and started browsing the cupboards for something to eat but turned up empty handed. Ugh! I hanged so little around my place that I even had completely forgotten to shop. I smacked my head on the cupboard in frustration.

Finally I found the remains of last week's frozen lasagna and decided to eat it even though it smelled like a public bathroom.

I grabbed a spoon not worrying to heat the meal at all. I wasn't going to survive through the experience without a stomachache anyway so, why bother, right?

"Please, tell me you're not eating _that_." Sam's voice came from behind me. I had a good hearing but the man was like a ninja.

"No, I'm not." I said in a tone that wouldn't be able to convince not even Quil's Claire and threw the lasagna on the sink so it could be destroyed by the garbage disposal.

The sound of my murdered food made my heart drop. Oh, well, maybe I'd get lucky tonight and a squirrel would get lost in my garden during the rain. I could phase quickly and eat it, I guess. My stomach growled and Sam laughed:

"I brought you some dinner. Emily thought you might have forgotten to shop for food." He said throwing me a box; I caught it in the air.

"Do you think Em would ever leave you and elope with me?" Sam rolled his eyes:

"Why would any woman in the world, Paul, ever give up on _me_ to be with you?" He said in a mockery tone.

"Well, you might just find out that some women actually consider bad temper to be quite charming and think of it as the sign of a passionate lover."

Sam raised an eyebrow in disbelief:

"Short temper is only considered passion if you're Italian, Paul, when you're Native American that's just plain annoying."

"Why are you here? I said making a face "It's my day off, you brought the food, get out." You have to understand that my respect towards the Alpha only lasted until he was in my living room calling me annoying. After that he was just like any other of my brothers. Sam's mocking face disappeared.

"What?" I asked. Ha! I knew there was a trick! Nobody ever fed me unless they wanted something from me!

"Well…" I noticed he was taking his shoes off.

"**No way!**" I screamed, my body trembling with all the anger.

"C'mon, Paul, is not that big of a deal." Sam unbuttoned his shirt.

"Not that big of a deal!? It's my first day off in three months! I've been covering Jake's turns while he was missing, and Embry's when he has to stay with his mom and…"

"And Jared's when he's out with Kim and Quil's when he babysitting Claire, I know, Paul, I know. But sometimes things happen and you know we can't count only on the kids. Besides, it's not like I haven't tried to take the others instead but…"

The fact that he was already naked irritated me. Why was he so sure I'd phase, uh? I could control myself. I wasn't a young wolf anymore.

"Get out of my kitchen. You might touch something." I said.

"I'm not at your kitchen. Technically I'm at your living room." He pointed to the counter I was leaning on, the only thing separating us. "_You_'re in the kitchen. And maybe _you_ should step out, since I doubt your mom would be pleased to pay yet another table to your house."

"I'm not gonna lose control." I was gritting my teeth "'Cause I'm not phasing today. _It's my day off._"Sam rubbed his face with his hands and sighed:

"Paul, Jacob's sister just came by to visit yesterday. Billy personally asked me to let him off duty today so they could spend some quality time together."

"Jacob again!? Who cares about family moments when we have to protect our tribe all the freaking time!? He's always putting our work in second place, I don't see how you can still protect this kid…" – Ok, so I phased, who cares, right? I never said I some sort of Gandhi or anything. Good bye, kitchen table. Sam phased too:

"_Well, since you're already phased…"_

"_Don't you start this on me, Sam Uley! I'm still pissed!"_

"_Oh, get a grip, Paul! Get over yourself." _

The good thing about mind reading is that you can actually insult someone with a thousand offensive words at once.

"_You're such a pain."_ Sam said sounding bored.

"_Yes, you're right, I am. Take Jared instead."_

"_He's out with Kim tonight. And before you ask…"_ He cut me off in the beginning of a new sentence _"Quil also had plans with his own imprint. They rented "The Little Mermaid" and are having a tea party."_

"_Embry, Leah and the kids seem quite enough for me. Don't be such a sissy. We're the biggest pack ever; six should be enough. Aren't you ashamed by the fact that Ephraim Black could do the same thing with less than half the numbers you use? It's a great time to rethink you life, Sam. Think about it, it's time __to change!" _

Sam grabbed one of my ears with his teeth.

"_Ouch! That was so uncalled for! I'll go anyway, alright? Let me go!"_

"_No. This is for suggesting patrolling with only the kids, me, Leah and Embry. You should learn how to be more compassionate to your brothers." _He said back to his always so calm tone.

--

"_I bet Jake's having fun. I hope one of Rebecca's children throws up at him."_ I thought as soon as we started running around La Push. _"Or maybe they can hit one of his eyes with a fork or something."_

"_Don't say this, bro."_ Seth joined me in my head. _"Having his sister around will help him get better. He needs it, man."_

"_I disagree. I think he deserves a fork in his eye. It's his fault he chose the leech-lover." _In moments like this, I actually liked Leah a bit.

"_Shut up, it's not reciprocal." _She answered looking at me.

"_Guys…"_ Sam stopped us from arguing. Leah winced but I didn't care. _"As sad as I am to bring you the news; it's not Rebecca who's here. It's Rachel." _

I accidentally clobbered against a tree causing its trunk to burst.

"_What do you mean by Rachel?"_ I mumbled confused by the blow. _"Are you sure is Rachel who's here, Sam?"_

"_That's what Billy told me. Apparently, she graduated early." _

"_Graduated early? Like in she doesn't have to go back to college by the end of summer?"_

"_I think that's the meaning of graduation, Paul."_ Colin said impatiently.

Rachel Black. It's been four years since I last saw her and still I could feel my whole body shivering from the fear her name caused me. She was back.

"_Don't you think you'__re overreacting a little, Paul?" _

"_Overreacting?_Overreacting_!? That woman is the Antichrist, Sam"! _I was silent for a moment _"The Antichrist!" _I repeated for emphasis.

"_We're Quilleutes, Paul, we don't believe the Antichrist." _Sam thought and his wolf form rolled its eyes.

"_I do. I've met her." _

"_You're so pathetic. Rachel's very nice."_

"_Of course you think so, Leah. But that's only because the Antichrist and Satan always get along just fine!"_

Sam had to jump between the two of us to stop any further arguments. It's a good thing he did though. I could easily kill Leah with my eyes closed.

"_Ha! I'd like to see you try that, moron. I'm just waiting." _

"_Guys, enough!" _The Alpha command said and everything went quiet for a while, we got back to work.

"_Just so I know and I'm not really sure I want to anyway…" _Sam thought later that night_ "Why is that that you're so scared of Rachel Black, uh?" _

That was the question I had been dreading from the beginning. All the minds around me went still, all but one:

"_Yeah, Paul, why don't you tell them? I'm sure they'd all love to know."_ Leah's thoughts were filled with sarcasm as usual. _"Or would you prefer if I showed them what I saw?"_

"_I'm sorry for calling you Satan earlier today, Leah. I now know you're a lot worse than the dark lord from hell would ever be capable to be." _She laughed.

My parents were always a little too overprotective and about the time I reached the fours they decided no babysitter was good enough for their Paul. Still, "their Paul" wasn't in fact important enough for neither one of the two workaholics to quit at least one of their three jobs so the only option left was to leave me at their friends' houses for the day. Of course my parents were too busy to even _make_ friends thus they ended up choosing our next door neighbors, the Blacks, as the perfect family to take me in the afternoons during the week and on the rare cases of them leaving the house to actually have fun. And that was when I met Rachel.

I never really understood why people had such a hard time distinguishing the twins; Rebecca had a sweet and serene face, sorta like an angel. Rachel was the one with the permanent evil glare towards me.

You see, I changed a lot since after I first phased. Before this whole magic crap happened I was, well, let's use the word "fragile"; I had asthma and I probably weighed half of what I do now. As a kid I was an easy target – even for a little girl. Mrs. Black was always busy taking care of Jake so, since I was - in her own words – "a big boy", I had to go outside and play with the girls while she watched Jacob and cooked us dinner. Rebecca liked to cook, draw and read. Rachel was more…active.

As the memories took over me, everyone else burst in loud growls of laughter.

"_That's not funny!" _I yelled in my head but it was useless.

From the moment I met her up to point she went away for college I've been her victim. She locked me inside rooms (and even cupboards sometimes, I'm still a little claustrophobic), pushed me into pools when she knew I couldn't swim… And that was when she was only _six_! After that, things became a lot worse. I believe that Columbine students had a better high school experience than the one I had.

Brady was rolling on the floor, unable to control his hysteria.

"_Dude, did she really dress you like Cindy Lauper?"_

"_I don't doubt it."_ Leah answered with a hint of awe in her tone._ "She was a Goonies' fan."_

"_I remember now. Hasn't she published the photos like ten years later in the school paper?" _Sam thought, absolutely forgetting that he had to remain neutral._ "I think I still have that edition."_

"_I was only_ five_! She forced me into that dress!" _

"_Sure." _Sam said, not even bothering to look at me._ "What about that cheerleader that asked for a restraining order claiming you were stalking her?"_

"_All Rachel. It's her fault I have a criminal record." _

"_And that clown at my six year old birthday party?" _Seth interrupted.

"_She paid him ten bucks to follow me around the beach holding a plastic knife. I still can't watch "It" without having nightmares." _

"_No offense, man, but you can change into a wolf the size of a horse. How can you still be scared of clowns?" _

"_Pennywise is _really _scary, ok?" _Seth rolled his eyes at me.

"_Well, at least I understand Paul now." _Colin said and everyone else – including me – looked at him with puzzled expressions:

"_I mean, it takes a lot of bullying to create a monster like Paul. If I had been the victim of all that, I too would be seriously paranoid and short tempered."_

"_I'll show you paranoid, kid!" I _thought, lunging in his direction. Sam grabbed me with his teeth again. I struggled to free myself but he didn't even seem to notice:

"_Actually, Colin, as weird as it might sound, Paul was always like this. I know him since he was a newborn and honestly, I haven't met a less amused baby so far." _

"_Oh yeah? Just wait until you have your own children." _I struggled again but it was worthless. I noticed Leah frowning and that satisfied me a bit.

"_Of course, Paul, of course.' _Sam wasn't even paying me any attention_. "Anyway, Colin, Paulie here has always been unpleasant. His mom used to pour shredded tranquilizing pills in his juice every morning before school."_

"_She did not!"_

"_Oh, hasn't she told you?" _He considered for a moment._ "Then maybe she still does it every once in a while when she comes by to bring you lunch." _With that, I knew had it. I finally got myself off Sam's hold and turned around:

"_Enough about me, alright? We should take care of our tribe!"_ I thought with all the moral I could gather in my mind. I enjoyed the silence that came as a result of my words. It didn't last long though.

"_Oh man! I can't wait 'til Jake phases again so I can show him what I know now!" _Embry said and everyone resumed in their previous laughter. I took a deep breath.

This was gonna get really old.

---

**A/N:**_Next chapter will be set during Friday. And guess what? Paul's in love! By the way, I'm making a list of awful bullying stuff me and my friends went through so I can use it for Paul and Rachel. If you want to, feel free to tell me your own experiences, I'd be really pleased. if you review, Edward will tatoo your name on his butt. _:D


	2. Chapter 2: Friday

**Bada Bing, Bada Boom!**

**A/N: **_Oh, well, here's a new chapter, please enjoy, ok? Paul imprints on this one; way to go, Paul! Let's just hope that you remain alive after Jake finds out about it, right? Please review, guys! :D And check out my other fics on my profile, all right? I'm really doing my best to update them all so I'm quite proud of myself right now. Yay me._

**Chapter 2: ****It's Friday I'm in Love**

The rain obviously stopped pouring as soon as I entered Emily's kitchen the next morning. Sam handed me some clothes to wear since mine had been shredded when I phased:

"Hurry up, will you? Emily will be here soon to make us breakfast and I don't intend on letting her see you naked."

"So you admit there _is_ a possibility of her leaving you for me." He didn't mind giving me a proper answer so he just glared in my direction.

"The Cat in the Hat!? Are you kidding me, Sam? There's no way I'm wearing this." I said holding the t-shirt he had lent me in front of his eyes.

"And there's no way you're staying for breakfast at my girl's place half-naked either, so enjoy starvation, buddy." He said pointing to the door right behind him. "You're the one who keeps exploding inside your clothes; it's not my obligation to lend you the latest fashion." Sam played so low; he knew I'd never refuse food. I put on the Dr. Seuss shirt.

"You look cute." He snickered.

"Whose shirt is it anyway? Please, tell me it's not yours." I knew I wouldn't survive the images in my head if it was Sam's.

"I'll give you a hint: its owner is the only one among us that can actually make a good impression on the girl he wants by wearing it."

"Did Quil really buy this?"

"Worse. He got it on a Children's Day event at Forks Library. He has a matching top hat to go with it."

"That's just gross." I commented but my mind was already on something else. "Do you think Em will come down anytime soon? I feel like a Cambodia kid right now."

"Paul, if you make any other poor taste joke like this one, I'll make sure you eat nothing but rotten microwave lasagnas for the next six months." Boo-hoo. Sam was no fun.

"You suck as a boss, you know that? I will start a syndicate!"

"Sure, why not? "The Syndicate of Washington Shape-shifters who turn into Wolves and don't like their Alpha"; that sounds successful. Hope you and Leah enjoy your time together at the meetings." He said rolling his eyes and reaching for the top shelf where there were cookies.

"Forget what I said about you sucking as a boss, I take that back. You simply suck. Full stop." Sam handed me the cookie jar and that was when we heard Emily's footsteps above us. A few minutes later, she appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a big smile on her face:

"Good morning!" She said.

"Emily." Sam's voice answered with palpable love as he saw her.

"Grawr." My stomach's answer was a little less passionate but just as intense.

"Oh, good morning to you too, Paul." She said, her small eyes popping open in surprise, like she had just noticed me there. Imprinted couple, I figured. Sam hushed towards her, took her face between his grotesquely huge hands and kissed her cheeks like five times before reaching for her lips.

"Yuck, I didn't mean to tell you this, Emily, but your boyfriend ate a few birds on our way here, he didn't even brush his teeth yet, you shouldn't be doing this." They completely ignored my white lie but I insisted:

"Guys, please, it's barely six o'clock. Can't you two just cut it out a bit?"

"Shut up and eat your cookie like a good boy." Sam said and Emily giggled before they resumed in their making out session. I stared at my homemade chocolate cookie. Imprinting was so disgusting I might just puke.

--

"That would be 39, 45$, son."

"Here you are, Ms. Call." Look, I wasn't exactly stealing. It's Sam's fault in the first place, for leaving fifty bucks on his shorts' pocket, beside, it's also because of him that I constantly forget to shop for my own place. Way to go, Karma! In your face, Uley!

"Oh, Paul…" Ms. Call sighed staring at the bright nail polish I knew by the smell she had just applied on her long nails. "Where did I go wrong, uh? I raised a kid all by myself and I was sure I had done my best but…" She looked at me with sad eyes. "Look at Embry. He's so rebellious! I just don't know what to do anymore. You're friends, right? You're a good person." The huge line behind me seemed to disagree.

"Listen, Ms. Call…"

"Aw, you, Sam and the all the others are so nice; "The Protectors!"" she said holding her hands in the air like she was naming a great movie title. "I wish my Embry could be a little more like you people."

My inside laughter was so loud that I couldn't hear my thoughts.

"Sure, Ms. Call, sure. Now, why don't you focus on the rest of the line, uh? I bet Mrs. Omar is _dying _to know what happened to Embry these last few days." I grabbed my bags and walked out from the mini mart; being almost immediately hit in the eyes by the sun at First Beach.

There were already a few groups and families sitting close by the ocean, probably brought here by the first signs of summer. I beamed and decided to give the sun a second chance after my utter disappointment for the last three weeks. I went for a walk close to the waves.

With the sea on my feet every now and then, the recently bought food and the idea of a night off ahead of me – mostly because I had made such a huge fuss yesterday that Sam had to convince Jared to cancel his plans with Kim. – I actually felt happy. It was so weird that I wondered if it was possible to become allergic to good mood.

It was right after that that I felt something cold grabbing my leg.

When you're a mythical being with super senses it's very hard to be taken by surprise. Everything around you seems to happen in slow motion and you are constantly under the impression that the universe could be easily controlled with your bare hands and up to that point, that's how I thought. But only up to that point:

"Oh, I'm so sorry; I kept my eyes closed while I swam back here. I thought you were a rock, you know?" It was a voice I had heard many times before, with a smile I knew too well and as the body emerged from underwater I knew it was the same one I was used to see everyday. "I hope I didn't scare you."

Not for a moment she looked at me, she was too busy trying to dry her hair by shaking her head but she didn't need to do anything because I already knew what was going on. The ground shook and then disappeared completely beneath me. Her eyes met my gaze and I was lost.

What had I been doing before? Why did I exist at all? Right there, right in front of me was the one and only meaning of life, so how exactly was I supposed to consider anything before that of any importance? Screw all the laws of physics; the only thing left behind was gravity. Rachel Black was the reason I lived.

And that was when the imprinting shock sort of faded and reasoning brought me a little back to earth.

Holly crap! I imprinted on Rachel Black!

It was a good thing imprinting gave us a reason to live otherwise I'm quite sure I was capable of having a stroke right there in front of her. Instead, all I had was a panic attack.

That was so typical of me; most guys get their license on their sixteenth birthday, I turned into a legendary wolf. Somehow, I simply knew this was coming. I thought I'd be like Quil and imprint on something weird like a toddler or, I don't know, that redheaded chick from Paramore, because that's just my luck, I never thought it'd be the worst case scenario though.

"Hm, dude, are you alright?" Rachel's question brought me a sudden urge to answer; like she had said it like a command. But that wasn't the imprint working at all; I had always been afraid of what she could do to me if I didn't obey her right away.

"I'm fine, Rachel, thanks for asking." I noticed how her name tasted good on my lips.

"Rachel?" she raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

_Do I know you?_What does she mean by that? Of course she knew me! How dare her not recognize me? I sat on her pee for Christ sake!

Oh, my god! I sat on her _pee._

I was only six and she forced me to sit on the place she had just…Oh lord, is this hushing things up? I mean, I wonder if Sam ever sat on Emily's body fluids, I bet it would be a sign of intimacy. Oh crap! Intimacy. What f I'm doomed to friend zone? What if Rachel sees me as the little loser her mom used to take care of for the rest of our lives? That just sucks!

"Sir?" Rachel kept staring at me. "Do I know you?"

She thinks I'm such an idiot already, even if I tell her the whole truth she'll probably just laugh at me, I thought lost in my own angst. Oh no, and I even had that stupid Dr. Seuss shirt on, that's just brilliant. I'm gonna be dumped by my own imprint.

This last idea made my heart throb in a way I had never imagined before; I felt lonely just to think about it. I tried to breathe evenly but failed. I was hyperventilating for the first time in years. Ironically, seeing me act like a total loser was all Rachel needed:

"Paul? Is that you?" she said still doubtful. After hearing my name in her voice I felt a lot more tranquil and managed to nod in agreement.

"Pauline!" she yelled and threw her arms around my neck. I regretted shopping immediately after she hugged me; with the bags on my arms, I couldn't hold her back. She let go of me too soon and I was partially aware that she had gotten me all wet but I didn't mind.

With her in front of me like that, talking about how I had changed in the last few years, I was able to realize things about her that I had never seen before. Like how her hair was lighter on its tips because of the sun or that her hands were too small for someone so tall. But what really caught my eyes was her smile.

I've known that prankster smile since I was four and still it felt like I had never seen it before. I never noticed how amazing it was; so wide and sincere that her eyes closed a little every time it appeared on her face. Whenever she beamed, even though she was two years older than me, she looked like a kid on Christmas morning. My whole body warmed from the inside at the thought that I was the reason that smile existed; we were soul mates.

"Er, hm, Paul, I'd better get going. These bags look heavy." I wanted to say "Please don't go." But I knew I had important things to take care of. I frowned and she smiled, a little nostalgic:

"You may be taking horse hormones now but I guess you're still the same weirdo on the inside, right?" She said patting me on the arm awkwardly. "Well, bye."

And she left before I could say anything, my heart cracking in a thousand pieces like I'd never see her again. I started to run.

--

As soon as I got to my place I put the bags on the counter, not bothering to turn off the TV that had been on since the night before and ignoring the remains of wood that had once been my kitchen table. I ran to the phone on the wall but stopped abruptly staring at the dialer. Who should I call? I had no friends and even if I had, I don't think they'd really grab the concept of "falling in love helplessly at first sight with worst nightmare". I had to call one of the pack members and it had to be the only one Jake wouldn't want to share his thoughts with. I dialed:

"Clearwater residence." The voice said on the other side of the line and I took a deep breath.

"Heeeey, _sis_!" I pushed my luck a little.

"I'm hanging up, Paul." I could hear Leah's voice gaining distance from the speaker.

"No, please, Leah, wait! I need your help! I'll do anything."

"That sounds interesting." Her voice was back to the speaker. "Go on."

"Well, you see, I… I imprinted and…"

Leah hung up on me at once.

My phone rang half a second later. I answered:

"Oh, Leah, thanks for calling me back, listen…"

"It's not Leah." Jacob Black's voice answered in a very low tone.

"Oh no." I whispered.

"You know what's funny, Paul?" he sounded sarcastic. "My sister just came back from the beach and you know what she told me?" A naïve imprinted part of me actually wanted to ask if she had said anything good about me. "She said: "Oh, I just ran into Paulie on the beach, Jake. He's so changed but I think the steroids he's taking damaged his brain, you know? He kept staring at me like he was high on cocaine or something, you know?"" He said in a poor impression of Rachel's perfect voice. "Do you have anything important to tell me about this, Paul?"

"Please, son, this telephone is brand new." I heard Billy's voice saying.

I hung up on Jake right away and dialed the number one on my speed dial:

"Hello?" said the husky voice on the other side said.

"So, Sam, bad news or good news first?"

--

**A/N:**_So, thanks to my friend Debora who was the real victim of the pee sitting thing. And thanks to everyone who review. Next chapter is "Saturday, wait" and Paul will have to wait a lot before he can actually talk to Rachel again, I guess. Anyway, read and review, alright? I adore you all. _


	3. Chapter 3: Saturday

**Bada Bing Bada Boom!**

**A/N: **_Oh my, today I'm on a good mood, there's a new Half Blood Prince trailer with a scene in which Hermione is crying after the Ron/Lavender kiss and, oh well, this is a Twilight fic! Anyway, chapter 3 is finally here, sorry if I took a little longer, writer's block! The good thing is I might upload a new chapter to all my fics during the weekend and I just finished "My Beloved Monster" so, please, check it out. Now, please, read and review. In this chapter the wolves discuss Paul's temper, imprinting and porn. Oh, well, let's hope for the best. Poor Paul._

_Thanks to everyone who's reading, alright? __I couldn't do without you. _

_Those who review get a miniature Billy Black that says "Edward Cullen is trying to get into your pants! Protect y__our virtue!" if you push his little miniature cowboy hat. _

_P.S.: And I hope you all get the pop culture jokes in this chapter!_

**Chapter 3:**** Saturday, wait**

My Red Sox shirt was shredded into thirty two pieces of cotton, my jeans were stronger; only twelve. I can't say the same about my kitchen table, though: one hundred and eight pieces of wood that weren't able to resist my rage. How do I know so precisely, you wonder? Well, I counted. I also counted the tiles on my kitchen (four hundred fifty nine and a half, by the way), the cracks on my living room wall (only seven what's pretty great since I don't really pay insurance) and the wrinkles in Oprah Winfrey's face, but this one I'm not telling because a) I had to use my wolf vision for this one and I'm still not sure I got it right and b) I'm afraid I might be sued if I publish it. But the counting thing only kept me occupied for like one hour and it was mostly because it's really hard to see Oprah under all that makeup. I also cleaned my house, cooked – and by cook I mean defrost – dinner and rewrote the lyrics to "Working Nine to Five" by Dolly Parton.

It's been over twelve hours since I called Sam and he told me that everything would be alright and that he'd talk to Jake about the whole thing. Here's a little sum up of how our conversation went:

"So, Sam, good news or bad news first?" On the other side of the line, Sam sighed heavily.

"Why is it that whenever you say this, I get the feeling that there are never any good news to wait for?"

"Well, that's pure nonsense! I'm absolutely capable of being the carrier of good news!" Honestly, the man knew me since I was a toddler, how could he not see the potential in me?

"Paul, the last time you called saying that, the bad news were Leah becoming a shape-shifter too, while the good news were _"And I totally got to see her naked, dude!"_" He said on a bad hip-hop alike impersonation of me. Ok, maybe he was partially right. But I _did_ saw her! He just didn't see how great it was because he had seen it like a million times before.

"But this time is different, alright? I do have good news! Look, I imprinted!" Sam went quiet for almost a minute. "Sam? Are you there? Did you hear me?"

"What did you do to her?" His voice was dead serious when he spoke again.

"What did I do to her? What kind of question is that?" I said feeling the blood go straight to my head. "You know I'm shy! I was thinking of maybe buying flowers first…" I giggled.

"No, you _moron_!" Sam answered angrily. He was controlled with everyone else on the pack but apparently his best friend didn't deserve the same treatment. "I want to know the bad news! What happened when you lost control after you imprinted? What happened when you phased?" He sounded so concerned and worried that I felt angry all of a sudden.

"Phased? I didn't _phase_! I didn't lose control, I'd never attack her!" The hypocrite! I wasn't the one who turned my girlfriend into Erik, the Phantom! After that he sounded more relieved, though still apprehensive:

"Then, what? What's the problem?"

"The problem is the person I imprinted on…" I started back to my nervous stage from before, forgetting all anger:

"Toddler?"

"No."

"Committed?"

"Not that I know."

"Elder?"

"Ew, no. Is that possible?"

"We have a woman shape-shifter, Paul, everything is possible nowadays. If your imprinting isn't any of these, though, then what's the problem?" It was my turn to be silent now. "Oh no, is it that girl from the band? The one with red hair?"

"No, and unfortunately, my imprint is not a redhead." I used to have a thing for red hair. It had been quite humiliating when the pack found out I had a crush on Bonnie Wright that sweet jail bait from the Harry Potter movies.

"Poor you, are you sure you imprinted, though? You weren't supposed to be complaining about hair if you really had…"

"Of course I imprinted! Who cares if she's not freaking Lindsay Lohan? She's way prettier! And a better singer too, probably! She's the most beautiful of all imprints! Mine is better than yours, tell Emily it's all over between the two of us!"

"I bet she'll be crushed." He said emotionless. "Paul, really, who's she? Is she someone I know?"

"…"

"Is she someone we both know?"

"…"

"I don't have all day, Paul. Could you cut it out?"

"It's RACHEL!" I burst. "Jacob's is gonna strangle me, than Billy is gonna run over me with his wheelchair, than Rachel herself will burn the little pieces! And if this isn't enough to get me dead than I'll kill myself with a silver bullet or whatever it takes to take a shape shifter down because…Yes! I know a silver bullet wouldn't kill me!" I interrupted him before he could speak. "Because I imprinted on Rachel _"Nightmare on Elm Street" _Black!"

There was a long silence on both sides of the line. Then Sam collapsed with laughter.

"Oh my God! You're the worst Alpha_ ever_!" I yelled at him, obviously offended. That wasn't giggling or chuckling, no that was a struggling for air kind of laughter. And Sam didn't even use to laugh!

"I'm sorry, Paul! It's just that…Oh, lord, you're such a loser!" he resumed in his mirth.

"Thank you for all the help, all mighty Alpha." I said, prepared for hanging up.

"Sorry, Paul, wait." He said, trying to regain his composure but failing "Look, man, I'll talk to the pack tonight and I'll give you some updates as soon as possible. Meanwhile…" He was serious again. "Stay at your place, don't try to see Rachel, don't get mad, don't phase; keep yourself occupied. And if Jake shows up…" silence again "Hide, man. Run and hide. Run like Leah, hide like Bin Laden. It's your only chance."

"I can beat Jacob!" There was no answer from Sam whatsoever. "Alright, I'll hide." I promised.

"Good boy, I'll talk to you later. I'm heading to the Black's now."

"Hey!" I started bubbly.

"Do you really want me to tell her you sent hello, right there in front of Jake?"

"Bye, Sam."

"Bye, Paul." And then he hung up, leaving me here waiting for my destiny. I took a shower, read a book, took a few looks at the engines of my car and counted everything countable within reach. I also tried to watch porn but that didn't turn out quite as I had planned. Apparently, "Hot and Horny MILF Vixens XVIII" does not have the same effects on me since I can't notice their faces – or any other parts of their bodies for that matter – anymore. Damn that Rachel Black! She ruined porn for me. And it wasn't even for the first time either.

When I was about twelve, she called my parents claiming to have found me watching forbidden movies while she was at our place taking care of me. And aside from being a psychopath, Rachel is also a perfectionist, so not only she made an account on my name at the video store as she also rented a copy of "With Legs Wide Open IV – Partying with Stallions" – and, just so you know, by stallions, they meant real horses - And took it to my poor mommy and daddy, saying that that was the one she caught me taking a peek.

It would have been better if they had just grounded me, but no, not my parents – they were too proud of being modern. They decided it was about time I discovered my sexuality, so they rented other movies – this time human on human action – and we watched them all together while they clarified any doubt that I might had, pausing every now and then, to warn me that whatever the porn stars were doing was a sign of love, a beautiful thing of nature and all sort of euphemisms they could come across.

Yes, this is my soul mate. According to the universe, my evil babysitter is the one and only for me. The same woman who once published at my High School yearbook that I was suffering from a rare case of _gonorrhea_ that only attacked virgins who touched themselves frequently is also the one I'm supposed to share the rest of my life with.

Ain't it just perfect?

--

I woke up with the phone ringing again. Outside the sun wasn't properly shining yet, it was probably something around half past five:

"Paul?" Sam's calm tone said.

"Yes?" It was all I could manage in my sleepy stage.

"We're going to your place." This sentence woke me up.

"What? My place? How, when, where?" And more importantly: "Who?"

"Me and the pack, of course, we are already on our way. All of us, including Jake." I gulped. "Relax, it's going to be just fine."

"I know, I'm ok. Just make sure you bring Seth."

"Seth? Do you think he can calm Jacob down?" I snorted:

"Of course not, I'm using the kid as a human shield! Everybody loves little Seth, they won't attack me if I have him." Sam made a weird noise with his mouth before hanging up. I think it was supposed to mean something like "La Push is so proud to have such a brave person like you on its defense line." But I didn't care; he wasn't the one who had imprinted on Jake's sister. Although he _did_ imprint on Leah's cousin while dating Leah what could really had gone terribly wrong had she been already a wolf back at the time.

Less than twenty minutes later, my brothers – and the girly wolf that hangs with us – arrived. They were in their human forms; I knew it when I heard the pace of only eighteen legs. It was a good sign; it meant that they were all calm enough to keep themselves together. Besides, Seth looked particularly fragile and cute today and that was great for me. Sam was the first to enter:

"Ok, guys, help yourselves. Paulie has food." What? Is he really offering _my food_ to a bunch of teenage werewolves who had just got back from duty? I glared at Sam. They were all already emptying my cupboards and fridge.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

"Feeding my brothers." I opened my mouth to protest. "With the food you bought with _my_ money."

"Oh, well." That cheap bastard, did he really have to notice every single dollar bill that disappeared from his house?

One by one, all my brothers – and the girly wolf – were taking different places at my living room. Jared grabbed the empty box that was on my DVD player and sighed:

"Oh, "Hot and Horny MILF Vixens XVIII"…" He was looking at the cover with a mix of nostalgia and awe. "This one used to be good." From my kitchen, I heard the noise of a pack of Doritos being destroyed by Jacob's bare hands and I glared at Jared. He chuckled then his eyes fell on the box again. "I miss porn." Quill rolled his eyes:

"Dude, you have a _living_ girlfriend!"

"I know!" Jared answered a bit offended by the thought of choosing porn over Kim. "But pornography is a form of art too, and it's bad that I can't appreciate it anymore."

"You can actually _have_ _sex_! My imprint is so young; she still has memories of how it feels to be a zygote!" Everyone – including Jacob who had kept his glare on me the whole time – turned around to face Quil in shock. The fact that he was complaining about Claire's age was just as possible as Sam wearing pigtails and a tight skirt while proposing to a vampire. "Oh, suck it up, it's not like _that_!" He said grumpily noticing the meaning in our eyes. "I'm just saying that Jared doesn't get to complain when it comes to imprinting. He imprinted on his lovey-dovey stalker who's exactly his age and was already head over heels for him!"

"Quil is on a foul mood today because Sam lent his favorite shirt." Collin gossiped close to my ear.

"He's being silly." Sam said on my other side. "He still has the one with the Grinch on it." Quil turned around offended:

"And how do you expect me to wear that on the middle of June, uh? You know that one is for Christmas Holidays only!" Jared was still uneasy about Quil's previous comment:

"I don't think you're being fair, Quil. I'm not the only one who got things easily, Sam, for instance, is pretty happy with…" He started looking at the point right next to me where Sam sat. On the other corner of the room, Seth smacked his head at Jar's stupidity. I noticed Leah leaning on the kitchen counter, a kitchen scissor on her trembling hand. Sam stood up abruptly, avoiding that Jared went further on the subject – and probably saving his life.

"That's enough! We're not here to discuss porn nor Quil's wardrobe! We should all go straight to the point."

"Seriously? And why are you here?" I said moodily. Embry was the one to answer:

"Eight of us are here to laugh at you and the other one is here to kill you."

"Correction," Leah said crossing her arms glamorously. "Seven are here to laugh, one is here to kill you and I'm here for both." I looked at Sam, searching for answers. He looked as tired as one of those British nannies on that Discovery Channel reality show.

"No one is here to laugh at you, Paul." He said ignoring the voices that booed him and said _"I am!" _"But we are worried about the conditions of you imprinting."

"Conditions?" I asked and suddenly everyone else sat down while Jacob stood up and made his way in my direction, his hands made into fists.

"_My sister_? You had to go and imprint on _my sister_? Don't you think I already have enough to worry about already without that?" My shock was so great that, at first, I didn't react. But then, I felt my usual anger boiling under my skin:

"_You_ have enough to worry about, Jacob? A spoiled child like you who does nothing but compromise with our duties and put our mission on Earth in second place? Oh, spare me! Getting all worked up just because corpse bride dumped you, I'm the one who has to deal with your immaturity all the freaking time because you're not even established enough to suck it up! Well, I have news for you; I don't give a crap about your teenage dramas, kid! Stop being so self-centered and grow up! You wanna bring it, bring it on!" I raised my fists, prepared to fight. "C'mon, try a lucky shot." Jacob's body shivered from head to toes as everyone else watched us attentively, in silence:

"Yeah, but you don't seem to have the same opinion about my sister, right? How exactly do you think I'd ever let you be anywhere around her? You're tetchy and unable to spend a whole day without exploding, you're so pathetic you shouldn't even consider being near her, Paul. What if you hurt her? What if she's the next Emily? Would you be able to bear? Would you be with her? Protect yourself from the pain; give up. Give up on her while you still can. You know you don't deserve her." He whispered the last part, like he had some evil pleasure in doing this "What if you hurt her?"

This time, the anger was palpable and the pain was physical. My body shivered, everything on me was being taken over by rage and guilt. He wasn't wrong. But he wasn't right either:

"Oh, well, then I'm sorry, Jacob! Because, whatever I am, your sister is too, somehow! Because we are freaking _soul mates_ and she'll soon learn to love and want everything about me! Get over it!" For a second I thought I was about to phase, but in the next, there I was, screaming my guts out. Saying things I never knew I had on me. "And you know what? I _love_ Rachel!" I swallowed on the weight of my own words " I love her even though she used to try to drown me and I don't even care if she ever stole my bike or if she used to dress me in G-strings! I don't care because I freaking love her, can't live without her and all that gravity crap we are always seeing in Sam's mind when he thinks we're not paying attention! And if you really think that's such a big problem, then kill your _sister_ because killing me won't do any good! I promise you it won't stop me! I'm staying bound to this earth as long as she lives and if I die before, I'll go all Patrick Swayze on her!" Everything went quiet except for my shallow breathing. Jake stared at me in shock; Sam stood up and patted him on the shoulder:

"C'mon, Jake, I'm sorry, man, but you had your test. You were a victim of your own theory. Paul passed."

"Test?" I asked not understanding anything happening around me.

"You know what Billy and Jacob believe to be the reason we imprint, don't you, Paul? For them, imprinting makes us stronger wolves. They seem to be right, at least when it comes to you. Their rule was applied perfectly here: Jacob said he wouldn't allow you to be near his sister, that you would hurt her with your mood swings, that she'd be…" he took a deep breath "the "New Emily". So, he tried to prove his anger was not only based on jealousy or overprotection by making you go through a test. And, well, here you are, imprinting made you capable of winning your biggest obstacle. All this argument and, yet, you remain human." Everyone looked at me, still in silence; Jacob's expression was a blank wall. "Congratulations, Paulie, you just got yourself a date with Rachel Black."

I couldn't believe, still I could not deny the fact that I hadn't phased. Was it possible that imprinting was the only piece missing the whole time? All I needed was true love? A reason not to lose my temper? All of a sudden I was this totally new, super self-controlled person? Oh, great. Rachel Black couldn't just take porn away from me –no, no- she had to make me all girlish and soft too. Yuck. Damn that woman!

--

**A/N:**_So, I'm really not very fond of this chapter, it was so hard to come up with it that I had kittens! Anyway, the next chapter is "Sunday always comes too late" and we finally have Paul and Rachel on a date together - what would possibly be great if it wasn't for the fact that the date is actually a dinner at the Black's house while Billy and Jacob are actually there. _

_Will Paul and Jake survive through the whole thing without stabbing each other? I don't think so. But we can always count on it, right?_

_P.S.: For those who are sweet and innocent and don't know the meaning of MILF, here it is: Mothers I'd like to F**ck. _


	4. Chapter 4: Sunday

**A/N: **_Oh, well, I suppose I should be posting chapter for some of my others fics, but...I'm in such a writer's block that I'm glad I got to finish this one. :cries: Anyway, I don't think this is much of a funny chapter but __**the good side**__ is that I think we are about to see some fluffiness. I think. Still not sure how the two of them will manage being cute with each other, they keep coming up with bad attitude every time I try to picture them together in my head. Paul shakes and growls every time Rachel says she won't date a man who's smaller than her brother, so…Oh well, and speaking of brothers, please, don't hate Jake. He's being a little bitch but it's because he's going through such a rough phase, the poor kid. :T_

_Thanks to everyone who review and my dear anonymous, please, give me a name so I can answer you properly at least on the author notes, I feel bad not thanking you for all the good feedback! _

**Chapter 4: Sunday always comes too late **

My last experience on a date happened long before I phased for the first time. Her name was Kristen and she was a redheaded cheerleader for whom I had a huge crush. I mean, let's face it, how fetish-alike can a girl get, right? But although people didn't exactly believe me, I really liked her. I had a picture of her on my bedroom desk and I wrote a few songs about her – Jared found them and threw them all on a garbage bin while burning them, said music itself was better off without those. But, as I said before, I was…fragile. Why would ever a cheerleader look at the moron on her Domestic Economy class? But then, one day, out of nowhere, I finally gathered enough courage to ask her out and, surprisingly enough, she accepted it. After giving it a lot of thought before, of course.

So, I got all my savings and took her to a romantic dinner – and by romantic I mean expensive – and we were amazingly getting along. About two hours after the date started she had stopped calling me Peter and was finally getting my name right. So, she turns to me during the second course and says:

"You know what, Paul? I wasn't going to accept in the first place, but then Rachel…" Rachel, unlike me, was the top of the pop back then. "When Rachel Black told me she was your friend and said that you were the sweetest of boys, I could not believe. She said she'd take it as personal offense if I denied the invitation, can you believe her? She said we were perfect for each other, and if you really wanna know…" she placed her hand on mine. "I'm really glad I heard her."

That moment I felt like the worst of all people in the world – Rachel included on the account, by the way. How could I have been such an ingrate? I knew "Rach", I knew that whenever she seemed to hurt me was just her way to show me she cared. How could I have been such a bad friend when all she wanted was my happiness? She had even come to my house earlier that day to "check on me" and now I knew it was just an excuse to see if I was doing ok. I really regretted throwing her out with holly water.

But those thoughts, of course, only lasted until three hours later when, by the end of the date, I noticed that the same Rachel Black had actually stolen my wallet a few minutes before the date, forcing me to ask Kristen to pay for a bill of over two hundred bucks. I think it's kind of pointless to explain why that was my last experience on dating in such a long time.

I parked my old Galaxie 65 in front of the Black's residence. I knew that place too well; the house next door had belonged to my parents for most of my life. I took a deep breath as to gain courage. I wanted to see her so bad, it was more like needing than wanting, I realized but yet I couldn't bring myself to move, to take my body closer to hers. I just stayed in the car for a while.

I felt abruptly stupid and obvious as I looked down at my outfit – I was way too dressed up to an informal date, and that wasn't even my biggest problem. I had put more effort on looking good tonight than most girls do on their prom night. Inside that house, two angry descendents of great chief Ephraim Black awaited for me to tell their daughter/sister that she was my imprint but, honestly that wasn't even really scary, not when I knew my imprint was the reincarnation of the evil Utlapa himself. I knocked on the door hesitantly.

I knew she would be the one to open even before I saw her, from inside the house I could already hear her heartbeat, a hurried and rhythmic beat, like the heart of a bird. Maybe it had to be faster to compensate the fact that it was five times smaller than normal human's hearts, I thought.

"Pauline?" She asked raising one of perfect curved eyebrows at me. "What are you doing here?" Maybe this is an imprinting thing, I don't know for sure, but I was suddenly aware of our hearts beating in the same tone, a perfect synchrony, like bass and drums on an old jazz song. I also noticed that hers failed for a second – right when she saw me – before it went back to its normal rushed thuds.

"Jake invited me for dinner." I answered. Rachel smiled her childish smile and let me in.

She wasn't ready for a visit at all; she was wearing socks, short and huge football jersey. Her hair was still wet from a recently taken shower and her whole body smelled like shampoo and soap, all mixed with her own scent that, although I had never felt it so strongly before, was astoundingly familiar. She noticed my eyes on her and looked at me suspiciously, her hands on her hips:

"What is it, Pauline?"

"I thought you didn't like sports." I said pointing to her shirt as to justify my staring. She chuckled, throwing her hair as she did it and a voice inside me whispered repeatedly _"marry me, marry me, marry me…" _while another one screamed its guts out in my head saying _"the power of Christ compels you, the power of Christ compels you, the power of Christ compels you!" _a thousand times. Good to know I still had a conscience somewhere.

"I _hate_ sports." She said rolling her eyes. "I bought this because I thought it made me look badass. I have a Mistfits shirt too and I have absolutely no idea of whom they are, I just thought they were rock because their symbol was a skull."

That's was typical of Rachel, she wouldn't get really close to stereotypes. Back when we were on high school, she would always show up with a different kind of attitude saying "today I'm a Spanish dancer" or "I'm feeling a little communist today, you know, Pauline?" so she just did whatever she wanted to do and everyone else just applauded and wished they were like her. I know that creating multiple personalities is the first sign of a psychopath but it was not like I didn't know her at all. So she had a little split personality disorder, who cares, right? All of her twenty eight personalities were adorable! In a way, I guess. Sure they scared the hell out of me, but they were still kinda cute.

"Jay, Paul is here!" My name on her mouth was my the most beautiful of sounds, especially when it happened to be name itself and not a feminine variation of it. Jacob came out from his room – that I knew once had belonged to Rachel – to meet us:

"Ugh, you really came." He said glaring at me.

"Of course I came." I said gritting my teeth and pretending it was a smile. I made sure to underline every word so he'd remember we had a deal. "I wouldn't miss it for anything."

"Jeez, Paul, are you trying to date my brother?" Rachel whispered looking at the both of us.

"Oh, yeah. Right." Jacob answered me completely ignoring that he had to pretend to be happy. "It's so good to see you, man." He said like he was reading from a paper.

"Paulie said you invited him." She said raising both her eyebrows.

"Did I?" It was all he answered. "I don't recall…"He started but I cut him off mid-sentence:

"Hey, Jake, remember that time that Sam got really pissed off and forced you to do rounds with Leah only for like three months?" I whispered in a tone I knew only him would hear.

"That never happened."

"Oh, but keep acting like that, buddy, and I'm sure it will."

Rachel had her hands on her hips again:

"What's up with you two?"

"Nothing." We both answered at the same time, not taking our eyes from each other. Jake said:

"Oh, well, I remember now. I really _did _invite you, _bro_! Have a sit." He said pointing to the table. Ra! The Leah threat was unbeatable! Sam warned us to use it wisely, though. Poor Brady once used it in front of her and, honestly, it's a good thing we heal fast, otherwise the poor boy would still have the marks.

"Thanks_, bro_." I replied smugly while pulling a chair. "Where's Billy?"

"He went shopping with Mrs. Clearwater. They both had to buy new telephones." Rachel pointed to a spot on the wall where the paint was clearer. There were cracks all around the square spot where the phone used to be, like it had being ripped off from the wall. I looked at Jacob who seemed to be a little too unfocused on what his sister had to say. "Eerie, right? But daddy says it just fell from the wall because it was too heavy. Told me the same thing happened to Sue's a couple of days ago too." Note to self: Do not give good information about love life to Leah by phone. Bitterness may cause violent reactions. Also, it might not be smart to say it in person. Send letter from now on.

"Well, I better just start cooking dinner already, right?" She said heading towards the kitchen.

"Actually," I started, making her turn around. "I was kinda hoping we could order a pizza, my treat. I don't wanna be a burden."

"Then go home and imprint on someone else's sister." Jake said too low for Rachel to hear. I ignored him, Rachel smiled:

"Don't be stupid, Pauline, I can cook." She said but I had already grabbed my cell phone from my jeans pocket and dialed the numbers:

"No, seriously, I insist!" I cut a new sentence from hers by raising my hand, the lady from the pizza parlor answered and I made the order.

It looked very gentleman-ish but don't be fooled. I might have imprinted but I was had not became delusional. I was not one to give Rachel a chance of poisoning me. No way, not that easily.

--

"So, Rachel, you just graduated, right? What's your degree on?" The three of us were by the dinner table. Rachel was on the head while Jake and I were across from each other each on a different side of hers.

"Social Sciences." Jacob answered before her.

"Are you Rachel?"

"Are you still here?"

We glared at each other murderously while drinking coke from our straws. On the table in front of us laid the almost empty boxes of the two large pizzas me and Jacob had eaten and half the small pizza I had ordered for Rachel. Her head went from my face to Jake's five times before she started talking:

"Hm, yeah, it's Social Sciences; I'm specializing in History and Anthropology."

"Seriously? How did you even survive your classes?" I said turning around to face her, completely forgetting about her brother for a moment.

"Oh, Pauline, it's not boring at all! I just think it's fascinating, I got to understand so much more about our tribe and our birth, you know? I mean, I'd love to study more about our sacred legends; all that wolf crap _must_ have some hidden science somewhere! A logical explanation, a metaphor, anything that explains our real origins! " I chocked on my soda and Jacob kicked me from under the table:

"Sure!" I answered. "Let's face it, men who turn into wolves, ha! That's utter nonsense!"

"I know, right?" She said guffawing. "And don't even let me get started on the imprinting thing, I mean, dude, how_ creepy_ can you get, right? I'm telling you, Pauline, if that ever happened to me, I'd be on a plane to Iceland in like two seconds!" She snapped her fingers and laughed harder. I pretended to laugh with her until all sounds ceased and the only thing left was a really awkward silence. Jacob had an evil smirk on his face.

"Now that you know what I've been doing, why don't you tell me what are you up to, Pauline? Any exciting new adventures?" She said on a mockery tone.

"No, not really, things really calmed down because…" I started "_After_ you left." I corrected myself. I wasn't exactly lying. If you ignored the fact that I could now phase into a wolf form, was abusively strong, fast and healed magically and the ten or twelve vampires I killed, things had been pretty normal. Actually compared to what I had to face while I lived close to Rachel, life _was_ really, a lot calmer than before.

"Really? That doesn't sound like you at all. Back at High School you were getting yourself into trouble." _Correction, my beloved imprint, _you_ were always getting me into trouble,_ was what I really wanted to say.

"Hm, yes, I guess I just changed." I said instead.

"Oh, do you remember that time when you got beaten up by those Goth kids?" She said not really holding back her laughter.

"I believe that happened because you pretended to return me a Spice Girls' CD that wasn't even mine in front of them, Rachel. Before that, we were great friends."

"Oh yeah, I remember now. You had your dark days too, always hanging around with those kids, wearing black eyeliner and painting your nails…" Jacob laughed out loud. "Whatever happened to that "Cradle of Filth" shirt you had?"

"I had to throw that out when the blood stains refused to fade." I said staring at my empty plate. "But it didn't really matter since they forbid me to wear anything that resembled Goth in any way after that; said I was insulting their name."

"Well, then I made you a _favor_!" She said patting me on the shoulder "You wouldn't want to be around people who can't like you just because you enjoy some pop music! Too bad for them!" Believe me or not, she actually meant every word she said.

"The CD wasn't even _mine_."I whispered gritting my teeth but she didn't listen. Her hand rested on my arm for a while and she stared at it with a lost gaze before whispering in a way she thought I wouldn't hear:

"Steroids." I felt…What the word I'm looking for? Goody-goody.

"What's the problem, Rach?" I said with a smile crashing the corner of my lips. Her hand still lying loosely on my biceps; Jake started chewing roughly.

"Oh, nothing." She answered dully, her eyes on my arm. "It's just…the heat, you know?" she lied "You're hot." I bet she thought that was a clever dubious answer. I chuckled:

"Oh yeah, it's gotta be from all those horse hormones I'm taking, right?" I said rolling my eyes. Her heart stopped again and then she blushed. I had never seen her blush before. Red with anger, yes; purple from choking on her own saliva because she was laughing maniacally at my suffering, yes, but never – not even once in the seventeen year I had learned to hate, then fear, than hate, then fear again, then love that woman – had she blushed. She started laughing again but it was easy to notice her laughter was uncomfortable.

"Yeah, you should really consider quitting them. Next thing you know, you'll have men boobs." She said with a fake composure, trying to make a joke. She attempted to take her hand off me but I grabbed it before it was back on the table. I compared the size of our hands by placing our palms against each other:

"Boys just grow, Rachel." I enjoyed the fraction of a second in which she hesitated then she took her hand away from mine, crossing her arms and snickering:

"Sure, Paul, sure. If you're really lucky, maybe someday you'll start growing hair on your chin." Her whole body language had changed as if she wasn't relaxed anymore. She had both her arms and legs crossed now but even though she looked nervous she also looked…flirty.

"I can assure you that he already grows hair in places you'd never imagine." Jake said wincing, making Rachel turn her head around to face him. With her gaze away from my face, my eyes narrowed and I bit my lips to avoid a howl from coming out. Jacob rolled his eyes. "Could you two cut it out? I'm really not in the mood to see that." He gestured to the both of us like we were just one item and in a second I wasn't so mad at him anymore. There was a really long silence and then Rachel stood up, avoiding my eyes. She clapped her hands together noisily and said:

"I'll go grab some ice cream from the fridge." She left us alone, her heartbeat gone crazy. Jacob rubbed his stomach and snatched a pen from his pocket. He started scribbling something down on a napkin with a little smirk on his face:

"What are you doing?" I asked already knowing I wouldn't like the answer.

"Just writing a note to myself, making sure I don't forget to check on plane tickets' prices to Iceland on the internet later." I tried to take the napkin away and he carved a knife on the middle of my hand.

My eyes were immediately covered by a sea of tears and my mouth popped open on a silent shriek of pain:

"You evil, evil creature!" I whispered in a high-pitched voice that proved my testicles had been shrunk to a size a hundred times smaller from all the pain. Jacob's grin grew wider and he kept the knife where it was. I took a fork from the table with my free hand and forced it against his forearm. He scowled and then pulled my hair, gluing my head to the table and smashing it hard against the wood three times.

"Oh, that's very mature, Jake, what are you gonna do now? Drown me in ketchup?" I said; my voice muffled because of my own cheek.

"Maybe I will!" He answered.

"Well, then go ahead and try but I already told, Jacob; Patrick Swayze, buddy, _Patrick Swayze_!" The knife came deeper in my skin and I flinched. "You know what? You can try as hard as you can but you know you can't kill me, you know you can't do anything! She'll eventually like me!" At least I hoped so. "And if I'm not wrong… Don't twins run in your family? It's gonna be so cute: two little Pauls running around the house while you baby-sit them and they scream _"unca jay, unca jay!"_ won't it be adorable?" If I survived through this, the look on Jake's face that right moment, would be priceless to show the other the next time I phased. If I didn't, still I'd have the good memory to take with me to hell. He growled, I growled back.

Rachel's scream was followed by the sound of broken glass and then all the ice cream was spilled on the floor. There was blood all over the place and yet all I seemed to be able to think about was:

"Oh no! I really don't want her to see me with sauce all over my face!"

"What are the two of you _doing_?" Her eyes were red with an anger I knew way too much. Enough to know I didn't want to see it again in my life. I felt both mine and Jacob's body trembling. We took the silverware out from each other almost politely.

The clock on the wall showed that Sunday was over. The front door burst open and Billy wheeled in, followed by Sam and Seth Clearwater who looked at the whole scene with wide eyes and exclaimed:

"Oh man! Now I have to give Embry ten bucks!"

--

**A/N:**_As I had suspected, they didn't survive through the whole thing without stabbing each other but that's ok, right? At least they heal fast. After I came up with the phone joke at chapter two, I reread Jake's part in BD and noticed that he breaks Billy's phone right before he leaves to attack the Cullens, I'm so sorry, Billy! I hope you get a refund! Well, next chapter is "Monday you can hold your head" and let's hope that Paul survives after he tells Rachel that he's the love of her life. _


	5. Chapter 5: Monday

**Bada Bing Bada Boom:**

**A/N: **_Well, another chapter! How awesome is that, right? The thing is I started to read this great fic about Seth –"Well, this sucks: Life According to Seth" by Krum Cake and honestly I feel like the worst writer ever. How can a fic be THAT good? Anyway, here's the new chapter for BDBBDB and I hope you all enjoy. I think it's kinda good, though I had to lose like half the chapter explaining to Rachel all the things we already know. :T _

**Chapter 5: Monday you can hold your head**

Although I'm pretty sure the twins' names were chosen randomly so they could match each other, I couldn't help but to think the situation was a little ironic. Rachel is a Hebrew name that stands for "ewe" while I'm Paul – the big bad wolf. Sure, Rachel's name also meant "Jacob's wife" so, unless Billy was some kind of weird incest fan, I was quite aware that the whole thing was just one big coincidence. Still it didn't change the facts that the wolf and the ewe are now connected for the rest of their lives.

Though honestly I'm not really sure who is really who in this weird metaphor yet. Rachel is _one scary _sheep.

Sam glared at me and Jacob while Billy got closer to his daughter. She was trembling from head to toes and I hadn't seen her blink for the last three minutes:

"Rachel, please, try to calm down." Sam started narrowing his eyes at us again. "Both Paul and your brother are just fine. I was hoping you'd find out about it some other way but…"

"Find out about what, Uley?" She was completely lucid again. Rachel used to be friends with Leah, nothing meaningful but enough for her to take sides after the Emily incident. "Is this about that "Dungeons & Dragons" protector of the tribe crap?"

"It's not like that." Sam replied and he was absolutely right. Mostly because D&D doesn't have werewolves, duh - Story Teller books are the ones that have them in it. Honestly, hadn't I taught Rachel anything? "You're being bloody-minded." Wow, how brave was Sam, right? I mean, if it was me in his place, with Rachel saying those things on that tone…Man, I'd be sweating more than a fat girl on Gym class.

"Oh, I'm sure you have a very rational explanation for all this blood on my kitchen table, Sam Uley! I'm also sure that you can easily answer why is it that that when I left for College a few years ago I had a completely normal family and now I came back to find my brother looking like an oversized circus freak that follows your every step."

"I'm not a circus freak!" Jacob protested but Rachel just glared at him with narrowed eyes. "You know what? I'll take that as a compliment. I have always wanted to be on show business anyway!" He said more to himself than to anyone else in the room. He knew his sister just as well as I did.

We were all in the living room now; Billy trying to make his daughter sit on the couch, Seth watching the scene with a certain amusement, Rachel and Sam both standing tall across each other- very concentrated on a glaring contest - and Jacob and I standing against the wall with our eyes on our shoes, like two kids who had been caught stealing candy. Sam sighed heavily trying his best to keep calm but his hands were already shaking a bit and I started feeling really scared. What if they hurt each other? Sam would never get rid of the scars she'd leave on him. Wolf metabolism and everything.

"Rachel, you of all people should be able to understand it. I know that, deep inside you, you already know the answer." Billy said. Rachel looked down, facing her father for a few seconds before speaking:

"Father, please, I know you're superstitious but this is too much! You can't possibly believe in anything Sam's saying! You know he's lying to you. There's no such thing as "Tribe Protectors", they're probably just using this as an excuse to hang out together, picking fights and getting high!" She sounded patronizing as she caressed Billy's hand. Such a sweet expression that for a second I almost thought she was Rebecca and not Rachel. "They're making a fool of you and the other elders, dad." Suddenly her eyes shifted from her father's face to mine and I felt all my bones freezing:

"Paul, I thought I had taught you better than to do this! I trusted you to take care of Jacob after I left and now…" She started walking towards me "Oh, mister! When I'm done with you, Stephen Hawking will beat you in _dancing_ contests!" Tiny flashes of my life started appearing on my head. I was_ so_ dead.

"Rachel, stop!" Billy's voice now was a powerful order of a chief. "If you're so skeptical, why don't you just look at it with your own eyes?" He gestured towards Jake. "Please, son, show your sister."

Jacob slowly raised his arm so that his sister could take a look at his wounds but there were nothing hurt anymore, just three minuscule spots where I had carved the fork an hour ago; it looked weeks old. She stared at it in disbelief and, to my despair, without taking her eyes from her brother's arm; she raised one of her hands on a motion that meant she wanted to see my own injuries. Her gaze moved from Jake's forearm to my hand unhurriedly but when her eyes stopped there, they grew wide with surprise:

"That's not possible!" She mumbled letting go of my hand at once as if she was scared of it. "Just a minute ago, Paul could have been able to cheat on the counting of hide and seek and now…" She looked at her father searching for answers, Billy just nodded. Rachel finally gave up and sat on the couch – more like fell on it, really. "The cold ones, shape shifters, Utlapa, Taha Aki, Imprinting…" She whispered confused.

"All true." Sam confirmed. Rachel put her head between her knees and took deep breaths. I counted her heartbeats while I waited for her to recover. When her face finally appeared, it looked suspicious:

"Something is not right." She started, Jacob rolled his eyes:

"Really? Can you please point out what's _right_ in this world anymore?" He muttered grumpily but she just waved him off, standing up, hands in hips:

"So, ok, I think it's great that the whole "Colors of the Wind" thing is for real." She said crossing her arms and pacing around the room. "It means I can have actual answers about our pasts, our origins…" She turned to Sam. "But if I studied the legends correctly, and I know I did, there are only two conditions that allow you to tell me these facts."

This was bad, this was "Hey, let's try these atomic bombs on a couple of Japanese cities" kind of bad. Why couldn't Rachel have chosen some other career, uh? One in which she could really apply all her sadistic methods like dentist, or teacher, or a telemarketing operator, why did she have to be a freaking Anthropologist, really? And a nerdy one too!

"And the two conditions would be either a) me being part of the tribe council what is obviously not the case or b)…" She stopped for a second. "Or b) on the absurd situation of one of the _pack_ members _imprinting_ on me." I grabbed Seth by the wrists, as inconspicuously as possible, and brought him closer to me. "But do you really expect me to believe in all of this?" She said to Sam in a very cold tone.

"You saw it for yourself, Rachel; it can't get more obvious than that." He said gesturing towards us.

"I get the wolf part, Sam." She rolled her eyes. "But imprinting? Honestly, I don't see it happening. True love at first sight but stronger? Gravity? Two lives linked to each other forever? Soul mates? The whole thing sounds like a creepy nightmare to me. It makes no sense, even in the legends, it was rare, an exception."

"Exceptions happen." Rachel took one more deep breath, assimilating everything. She looked from Sam to her father then she finally turned her head to the corner where the rest of us were standing. Damn! When had Seth become so small? I could barely hide behind him.

"No…_way_." She whispered lethally and heavily. Billy grabbed hold of his new telephone and protected it like it was his own life. I couldn't blame him, we were all very aware of his daughter's habit of throwing things on the walls when really mad. And by "things" I mean anything – including myself. Rachel was shivering so uncontrollably now that she wasn't even able to walk. "Pauline…"

_Testicles shrinking, testicles shrinking, testicles shrinking… _

"Please, _please_, tell me you're not the offensively _dense_ creature that actually believes our souls are somehow connected." I was about to answer _"Of course not! Hey, here, kill Seth, he's the one!" _but Sam glared at me and I bit my lip so hard it was about to bleed:

"You know what, Rachel? Most people just get really freaked out at the part when they find out vampires and werewolves are true...Why don't we try focusing on that, uh?" She attempted to rip one of my eyes with her nails but I was able to dodge, thanks to Seth who, unfortunately will probably have to deal with a black eye. I felt bad for him, of course, but it was him or me and, honestly, I liked me a lot more.

"Rachel, this is not Paul's fault." Sam said, capturing all of Rachel's attention. I adored him so much that moment I could just, I don't know, lick his face or something. "Look, I know you always have been told that imprinting was like magic, a fairytale of sorts because that's how little girls learn to see it but…" His eyes were sad and I noticed that Rachel understood a lot by his undertone. "But sometimes it's complicated. I'm sure that, if you get closer, if you let Paul into your life, I know you'll find out the two of you have a lot in common. How you two complete each other." I thought he was going a little overboard there but it seemed to work, she looked a lot less mad now, probably because she was taken by surprise. Oh, I loved Sam. If this was some parallel universe where we were all humans, I'd be totally fighting Leah for his love. I mean, considering, of course, that in this parallel universe I'd be human _and_ gay.

"The only thing I have in common with _this_…" she said pointing at me. "Is the fact that we both have vaginas!" And the only reason she said that is because if she had said that neither of us had balls, she'd be lying. Her balls were huge. Sam laughed:

"Oh, well, I guess you're right." Forget it, I take it all back. In parallel gay human universe I'd stalk Jared, not Sam. At least Jared knows how to play the guitar, that's hot. "But I'm sure you two could at least try, see how you two seem made for each other, kind like puzzle pieces." All the Black's family integrants present in that room looked like they were about to puke. Sam rolled his eyes:

"Seth, take Billy to your place, he can crash there tonight. Jake, you come with me; we are already late for patrol." I started following my brothers but the Alpha stopped me with his hands. "Where do you think you're going? You and Rachel have a lot to talk about right now."

"What!?" I whispered desperately. "No! You can't leave me here alone with _her_! She'll kill me, or swallow me or whatever it is that harpies do!" Sam sighed impatiently. "Seriously, Sam, at least leave Seth behind!"

"Spare me, Paul. That woman is going to be the mother of your children; you can't be that scared of her!" I admit I felt a little warm-_er _on the face when he said that, but all I answered was:

"Do I look like someone who's willing to generate the spawn of the devil?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"If you imprinted on Rachel Black then yes, Rosemary, I'm sorry. Now go over there and face her. Prove her you're worth her, hm, love or something. It's the best thing you can do." He tried to push me closer to her but I set my feet on the ground like they were the roots of an old oak:

"No, Sam, this is not the best thing to do, this is the worst! The worst of all; even worse than Emily's Halloween party, last year, when Quil decided to go dressed as Michael Jackson even though Claire's parents were there and you know it!" But I was already doomed. Jacob and Billy passed by me, large smiles on their faces – probably because they knew those were my last moments of life. Billy turned his face around to face his daughter once again before leaving and said:

"If he tries anything funny, you know where I keep the tomahawk." Great, just what I needed: angry Rachel holding a weapon. I looked at Sam with frantic eyes and all he did was shrug:

"Well, weren't you the one who wanted me to rethink the pack numbers?" He said before closing the door behind him and leaving me alone to face my destiny. I slowly turned around waiting for her worst look of hatred or maybe her scariest scowl but what I found was even more frightening than what I could have hoped for.

Rachel Black was grinning from ear to ear.

--

"Eat this." She said handing me a bowl of peanuts. Those were her first words since the others had left half an hour earlier. Frankly, you never know how scary-looking a woman can get 'till you watch her while she cleans your blood from her dinner table. But I guess good part of my shocked state was caused by the fact that she kept repeating "All work and no fun makes Rachel a dull girl" the whole time with a maniac smile on her face.

"No, I won't. You know I'm allergic to peanuts." She had been the one to find out about it in the first place, she waited until I turned blue to call the ambulance. Said she had done me a favor, I looked awfully ugly in purple.

"Have you eaten any after you became a wolf?"

"No and just why would I do that?"

"Science experiments, of course."

"I'm against animal testing, thank you very much." I said trying to hand the peanuts back to her but she just kept staring at me, her arms crossed. "Sincerely, Rachel, if I'm still allergic to peanuts, then I would start asphyxiating, then you wouldn't be able to take me to a normal hospital because I run at 109º F, then you'd have to carve a knife on my throat in order to make a hole from where I could breath then my hyper fast metabolism would strike and the hole would be closed in like five seconds and then…Then I'd totally die." She was quiet for a minute.

"So that's all I need to kill a legendary Quileute wolf?" she said snorting "Peanuts?"

"If I'm still allergic, then yes. Hey, wait a minute…Why are you smiling?"

"I'm not smiling."

"Yes, you are. Your lips are not curved and I can't see your teeth but still, I'm pretty sure there's a smile_ vibe_ on your face."

"I'm not smiling, Paula." She said trying to hold back a chuckle; she turned her back to me so I couldn't see her face anymore. Oh my God! That woman so deliberately wanted to kill me! I whined and when her face looked at me again she had a new smirk on her face:

"I feel like a kid who got herself locked on a toy store!" She said with sparkling eyes. "_What a coincidence!" _I though "_I feel like a kid locked too! But in my case I'm with in a room with some weird Native American big boobed version of Linda Blair's character on the "The Exorcist"!" _Coming to think about it, Rachel really does have a nice breast… "I mean, there's so much to learn and absolutely no limits...Paul! What are you looking at?"

"Er, hm…" Hormones and Imprinting shouldn't really be mixed. Kinda like Paris Hilton and acting. "Your shirt, I mean, the Washington Redskins; they're good." She looked down at her jersey, confused:

"Who?" She made a pause "Oh, well, whatever. Look, about the imprinting thing…I wanna run some tests." Could my life get any worse? Oh, calm down, Paul! It's not like you have this urge to obey her every absurd wish no matter how dangerous or stupid it is just to make her happy, right? _Wrong!_

"Tests?" I said gulping.

"Yes, like…" Her eyes traveled the whole room and I hoped from the bottom of my heart that she wasn't looking for the tomahawk. She grabbed a tiny pebble from a vase of flowers that rested on the coffee table. "Like; would you really do anything I need you to?" I reserved my right of remaining quiet and didn't answer this one as a form of self-preservation. She stared at the small rock on her hands for a while before throwing it on the other side of the room. She pointed to the place where the stone had landed:

"Go fetch!"

Sure and why don't I just pick my dignity from the floor on the way back?

"I don't really think it works that way, Rachel." She looked confused for a moment and then the disappointment was clear on her eyes. It was crushing me the fact that she thought she had been wrong about her imprinting ideas. She frowned and started making her way to pick the pebble herself.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm Paul! I don't even _have_ a dignity to begin with!

"Here." I said handing her the small rock after showing off my speed a little bit by going from my spot to the stone then to her in like half a second. She looked at me flabbergasted as the pebble dropped on her palms:

"Wow, Paul. That was…" She said still impressed. "That was actually kinda awesome." See? I'm kinda awesome; now maybe someday she'll kinda like me then she'll kinda marry me then we can kinda have wild sex – please notice that I love her enough to wait for our wedding – and the she can kinda have my children. Or tiny puppies. Or the hounds of hell what is more likely to come from our union.

Then she gave me this look, this completely new look I had never seen before and she chewed on her lower lip before smiling a completely different smile from the one I knew:

"You know what, Pauline? Take off your pants. I wanna ride you."

Insert seizure here.

"_What!?"_I burst. She opened her mouth in shock before throwing the rock she was holding on me. I dodged easily.

"Not like that, imbecile! I mean _ride,_ ride! I wanna see your wolf form!" Her eyes were shinning with genuine happiness and expectations and I knew I couldn't refuse, not if that was what she really wanted. I was Rachel's little bitch now.

Oh, wait, I have always been. Awesome.

**A/N:**_ So, this was it! I really hope you liked it! You guys are so awesome! I'm sorry if I didn't anwer one of your reviews, I'll do it as soon as possible, I always answer them decently and nicely because I'm a really nice person. *cough cough* I'm not sure what the next chapter will be named though it'll probably be something like "Tuesday heart attack", all I know is that Rachel's tests continue and now she's going to use a shovel. _

_Please read and review! I'll love you all! _


	6. Chapter 6: Tuesday I

**Bada Bing, Bada Boom!**

**A/N:** _Hello, my beloved readers! I'm really sorry it took me so long to come up with this chapter, I had most of it written a long time ago but I just had some really important tests and had to force myself to study instead of write. So here are a few important notes before you read this chapter:_

_First: Please, open another browser now and go to youtube. Look for the song "I believe in love" by Nikka Costa and put the video to load. Play the video as soon as Rachel turns the stereo on. It's not really important but I guess it sets the mood._

_Second: This chapter is so long that's gonna be split in half. So this is only part 1 of "Tuesday heart attack"._

_Third: My computer broke as soon as my vacation started – yeah, life, picnic, whatever. So, please thank my great friend Débora for lending me her house for the whole afternoon so I could type this, ok? I'm listening to her Twilight soundtrack CD as I do it and I feel FINE._

_All right, now back to Paul's misery! And a Merry Christmas for everyone! _

**Chapter 6: Tuesday, heart attack (Part 1)**

This was exactly like a scene from "Hot and Horny MILF Vixens XVIII". We were both alone at the living room standing across from each other when she took the first step. She came closer to me and for the first time in my life I wasn't scared of her. There was this heat that, I assumed, was emanating from my body and there were thuds too. Loud, earth quacking thuds that made my whole body tremble. She took yet another step, her eyes now two deep dark water lakes and I felt like she had just poisoned me. Her tongue slowly traced the lines of my collarbones and her nails left tiny - almost unobtrusive - marks on my arms as she slid her hands through them.

The atmosphere was heavy but not in a bad way; I felt dizzy, dazzled, hypnotized. I placed my fingers on the little details of her skirt that I guess were meant to be holding a belt and pulled her hips closer to mine. One of her legs curled itself around my thigh and her mouth let out a satisfying sound of pleasure as the distance between us decreased even more. We were both shivering as she put her arms around my neck and, before our lips collided, she bit my earlobe leaning her face a little and gently parting her lips to whisper me a secret:

"Where's momma's shoo shoo?"

Before Freud's spirit could appear in my house screaming "I knew it!" I recognized my mom's voice coming from the answering machine next to my bed:

"Paulie? Paulie! Are you there, mister? Don't ignore your momma!" So ok; whenever my mother calls, I'm left with two options: a) ignore her completely by letting her talk nonsense to the answering machine for hours or b) ignore her politely by answering the phone and pretending to listen as she talks nonsense to the machine for even more hours.

I wasn't feeling very polite that morning.

"Well, you're apparently not there…" She breathed quietly for a while. You see, naive people would actually believe she was about to hang up but no, not me. I got up and walked heavily towards the bathroom to brush my teeth. "Anyway, Billy called yesterday said you imprinted on his daughter!" I choked on the toothpaste, almost swallowing my toothbrush by accident. "You saucy boy!" She giggled.

_Saucy? That's a funny choice of words. I'd go for "masochist". _

My mother was part of the tribe council and the only one in my family who knew about me phasing. Sure, my father also had wolf blood somewhere but his hobbies included knitting and bird watching so you can't exactly call him an example of Alpha male (or any male for that matter). My mom was Jared's father second cousin while my father, I think, was related in some degree to Joshua Uley. Honestly, nobody expected me to change and they didn't notice any symptom on me 'til the moment it actually happened.

I mean, shaking from anger and constant bad mood? Can you really blame them?

"Oh, honey, this is so lovely! But don't you think it's kind of weird though? I mean, doesn't she have a twin? What if you imprint on her too?" I think the only possible reason for they to keep my mom on the council is that she does a great spiced chicken 'cause I'm sure they're not keeping her for her brains, I can tell ya that one easily. "But, deep inside me, I already knew you two were made for each other!" See what I'm saying? The woman is clearly a basket case. "Do you remember the day when we moved from our old house? You were twelve years old and still you were crying like a baby!"

Those were tears of joy.

"I'm so happy for you that I already told your father everything!" I ran towards the answering machine, glaring at it maniacally as if it was my mother herself. Had she told my father about the imprinting? It was possible; she was definitely insane enough to do it. I think the only moment in her life that she actually thought things through was when she decided to buy me this house 'cause there was no way I'd be able to keep myself from phasing in front of dad. But looking back at it right now it's very likely that the whole thing was just one excuse to throw me out and protect her new Bottox applications from my humongous wolf teeth. She continued cheerfully: "Of course I didn't really say anything about imprinting." I sighed, relieved. "But it was hard to explain why I was so certain that you'd be getting married someday so I might have implied that you had gotten her pregnant."

Why couldn't they just have put me in the line for adoption, really?

"Anyway, I just wanted you to know because you might be getting a few baby clothes knitted by him in a recent future. He's so happy about it; can't stop his hands from…" Bip. The machine cut her off but I was positive she wouldn't call again since she probably hadn't even noticed that her time was up and was still babbling profusely to absolutely no one.

I decided to take a cold shower but when you run at a usual 109º F, cold showers are hardly effective, so I just tried my best not to focus on the dream I had just had. And just like every time we try not to think about something, I didn't seem to be capable of thinking of anything else but the freaking dream. I was getting ready to see Rachel and it wouldn't help me a lot if I kept all those dirty thoughts inside my head the whole time.

We had decided to meet again today so I could show her my wolf form. At first I wasn't very keen on the idea and denied her request so she just rolled her eyes and said: "Oh, well, so let's focus on the healing process, right? I'll go get the tomahawk." And then I _had_ to give in. Yet, I told her I needed some time to prepare first and showed her a picture of Emily I carried in my wallet:

"I don't want this to happen to you." She examined it in silence for a few seconds and then spoke:

"Why do you carry a picture of Sam's fiancée in your wallet?"

I didn't answer for a while.

"Hm…I like carrying pictures of people I love. I have all my pack brothers in here." That wasn't a lie but the truth behind Em's picture involved a very angry Sam, a few months after I phased for the first time, really tired of all my temper issues screaming at me stuff like "Keep this in mind, you little mentally challenged creep!".

"I just see Jared and Sam."

"They're the only ones I love." I also had a picture of Nicole Kidman and Marcia Cross but I didn't show her these. "This is off-topic, though. Please, Rachel, let's wait 'til tomorrow. I don't think I even fit here, in this tiny room." I said looking around. She stared at me, pondering, and then threw her arms in the air:

"Ok: Tomorrow, ten o'clock. Come pick me up, I need sometime alone to think anyway." She walked me to the door what, by the way, redefined the concept of awkward. Really, how do you say bye to a woman after you – or, in the case, your best friend – just told her that you were desperately in love with her, that she was your other half and there was no other option to the both of you but to be together for the rest of your lives? Well, apparently, this is how it goes:

Awkward silence.

"So, well, hm…" Male soul mate mumbles.

Awkward silence again.

"Yeah,yeah, bye, whatever. See you tomorrow. Don't be late or I'll rip your vocal cords with a teaspoon." Female soul mate slams the door at male soul mate's face.

Crickets singing in the darkness.

The end.

I wonder if she misses me as much as I miss her.

--

I parked the Galaxie in front of the red house and found her already waiting outside; her arms crossed around her knees, sitting on the little ramp Jacob had built for Billy. When she saw me, she stood up at once and grabbed her backpack:

"Do I want to know why exactly did your father call me this morning saying that he was very happy but nevertheless highly disappointed by the fact that we hadn't been safe?" I gulped:

"No, you don't." We both sighed and then shrugged. She was wearing a surprisingly normal outfit: just a checked shirt and jeans. Her hair looked soft and glossy under the sunlight and I could easily see her freckles and the copper shades in her hair.

"Don't do this." She said not bothering to look back at me.

"Do what?"

"Don't give me this look."

"What look?"

"This imprinted, all so loving look. It's disgusting and a bit scary." I frowned and nodded:

"I'm sorry. I'll try to stop."

"How old is that thing?" She said noticing my car for the first time.

"It's a Galaxie 67!" I replied proudly. "This was the presidencial car back in its t…."

"Sixty-seven?!" She exclaimed madly. "That crap is older than both of us together! I'm not getting into that piece of junk!"

"But she's in perfect state!" I said caressing the car's hood and talking to it in a whisper. "Don't worry, Angelina! Aunt Rachel likes you, she's just kidding. Nobody thinks you're a piece of junk!" Rachel groaned and stamped her foot:

"Well, I guess we're not going then! Not unless you have some other way to get us there."

And then it hit me.

When we are kids, there's always someone in our lives who's unbeatably strong – like a rock. Someone who's never scared of anything, sort of an idol, a person capable of making us feel safe no matter how tricky the situation is. To Sam, who had had an awful father, Harry Clearwater was that person and his death crashed him in ways I'd never understand. To me, whose father watched Martha Stewart and soap-operas and always cries when Molly Ringwald gets her happy ending in "Sixteen Candles" and whose mother once had spent twelve hours under a snowstorm just to get Barbra Streisand's autograph; oh well, I couldn't count on my parents to be my rock either.

So, during my childhood I had only one person to look up to – even if it was in the most bizarre of ways. Rachel wasn't someone to be defeated in my eyes and now I could clearly see that. Only once before I had seen her as a human, as a weak creature like the rest of us and it had been on her mother's funeral. A car crash: Billy unable to walk, Mrs. Black burned beyond recognition.

Of course Rachel would be afraid of cars.

"You can drive if you feel safer this way." I tried and she glared at me but soon the glare became just an hesitant stare and she said looking at her own shoes:

"I don't drive." I smiled and opened the passenger door for her:

"Then please, trust me. I'll go really slowly, I promise." She looked at me defiantly,like she dared me to say out loud that I knew she was afraid. Ra! Like I'd ever be that much of a suicidal.

"All right, "Paullyana", Kodak moment is over, you can cut the cuteness crap now. I'll go." She said making her way to the car. Hey, wait a minute! Had she just called me cute?

"Oh, wait! I forgot something!" She started, smacking her forehead and hushing inside the house again. She came back a minute later holding something easily recognizable on her hands:

"What the hell are you going to do with that shovel!?" She looked at her hands, studying the object:

"Oh, you know, just the usual." She shrugged. _"Does the usual includes taking advantage of the fact that we are alone in the woods to kill me and then burry the corpse?_ _Unfortunately, it does."_ She stared at me like she was reading my mind:

"Don't be silly, Paula. I'm not going to burry you!" I doubt that. "Aren't we going to a place near a cliff? Wouldn't it be easier to just drop your body in the ocean? If they ever found something, I could always claim it was suicide or an accident, right?"

Oh, well. I guess that does make a lot more sense; I had imprinted on Don Vito Corleone after all.

"C'mon, Paula, get in the car." She said with a smile and I looked at the sky once before joining her:

"Dear God, I'm not sure whether or not you have a place in heaven for legendary beasts but, please, if I die today, make sure my room is close to Tolkien's, will you, please? I really need to practice my Elvish." I prayed.

--

For the first five minutes of our road trip, Rachel was very uneasy so I tried to make conversation.

"So, R…" She raised an eyebrow at me and turned the radio on. I insisted:

"So, do you…?" She turned the volume up. "Oh that's really mat…"

She made the audio even louder. When the sound was unbearably noisy, I gave up. The radio station started playing an old melody by someone called "Nikka Costa":

"_I believe in love /I believe it every time I see you /Walking by my side /It's something I can't hide…" _

We both shifted uncomfortably in our seats.

It was one of those really sappy old songs. Rachel focused her eyes on the window and I kept mine on the road.

"_I believe in love /I believe it every time I hear/ Your laughter flow with mine/ Oh I can see it shine /Like a super nova star /Like a glow worm in a __jar /The light is just the same/And love is not a game …"_

I coughed; she scratched her head and crossed her legs.

"_So believe in me my friend /And this joy will never end /In a hundred years or two /I'll still be loving you"_

"Will you turn this thing off NOW?" I burst, blushing but she already had her hands on the radio.

"I will! I will!" Everything went quiet for a long time, both of us breathing shallowly not daring to face the other. Once again, a whole new concept of awkward.

"So, Paul…You were saying?"

I smiled winningly.

--

We got out of the car twenty minutes later after triumphing brilliantly on our quest of completely avoiding the "I Believe in Love" incident. The wind licked our hairs and Rachel inhaled the air of La Push's highest cliff, the morning sun against her body and she beamed at me:

"Ok,now, let's not waste our time here: get naked already." Seriously, does she say these things on purpose?

"Shouldn't we eat something first?"

"Jeez, no! What if I get all disgusted by your wolf form and start throwing my guts up?" I really appreciate how Rachel is capable of pointing out precisely my worst insecurity and make it even worse. I sighed in a very "Sam-ish" way:

"Look, I'm still not sure about it, what if I hurt you?" She rolled her eyes at me as she waved me off and snorted:

"Oh, please! Like I'd ever buy this! You're just afraid of getting naked! You're so touchy sometimes!" I winced, incredulous:

"W-what?"

"Paul, do you have any idea of how many _showers_ we took together?"

"We were CHILDREN, you nasty, _nasty_ woman!" By the way, we took exactly thirty-two showers together during the course of our lives. Thirty-one when we were kids and one in my head a couple of days ago. She chuckled:

"C'mon, silly, you are always so shy it's getting ridiculous. I remember when we were kids and you would get all sensitive just 'cause you didn't want me to laugh at your ding-a-ling!" I know that's not a very dignified thing to say but that woman had just killed my penis. Or at least she had thrown it into a loooooong period of coma. I winced again and she laughed out loud:

"Hurry up, Pauline! Don't worry about my opinion; I promise you it won't be good. Look, I'll turn around, what about it?" She sat on a rock, facing the ocean and gazed at a point at the horizon mockingly. "You don't have to get so worked up over this, you know? It's not like I have never seen these things before, I mean…I dated_ loads_ of guys while I was in college and they were all sooo different from you. Like, _you're so-not-my-type-at-all_!" The sound of her disdain destroyed my heart and sent a shiver down my spine.

"O-others guys?" Facing the calm sea, she couldn't see my twisted face or my gritting teeth as she kept on, giggling. "Yes! Some of them turned out to be jerks, but some of them were really nice! First there was Jeremy who wasn't really smart but very hot and kind, and then there Luke who had the highest I.Q. like…ever. And then…" Her voiced failed a little. "There was Noah who was _really_…" She bit her lip frisky. "Well, you _know_!"

"Rachel…" I whispered between my teeth. The pain in my chest was burning me from inside out. This whole thing was new; jealousy was unknown before, I was shallow so I had never loved anyone for real. Still, shouldn't I just be happy that she'd been happy? Wasn't that the whole meaning of imprinting?

Even for my brand new self-controlled personality this was too much of a shock. The idea of Rachel with other guys had never occurred to me – mostly because I had always been pretty sure that no man would ever want to date Medusa – but now that I could actually look at her and see how special and criminally beautiful she was, I felt really stupid for not taking a step earlier. I'd end up dead anyway so why not try, right?

"And then there was Mark…And Mark was so romantic he used to take me out and…"

"Rachel, please! Stop…!" Were my last words before the new anger inside my being destroyed all the remains of will I had in me. I was too tired to fight anymore and so it happened.

I burst.

**A/N:**_ Paulie is all jealous :B! But, oh well, saucy chapter, right? What reminds me of a very important question that I'd really like you to answer: why are lemons called lemons? REALLY! I mean, I have a theory that it's cause "if it falls in your eyes, it hurts" but I'm almost completely positive that's probably not the right answer, lol._

_So, why do we call "lemons", well, "lemons"? __Can anyone explain the whole lemon concept? I'd pretty much appreciate it! I'll now reply to all of your reviews!_

_And, btw: Yes, Sarvi, I WAS talking about you! I happen to __**lurv**__ your reviews, so keep them coming! I'll answer them here from now on! :D _


	7. Chapter 7: Tuesday II

**Bada Bing Bada Boom**

**A/N: **_I'm really sorry for the absurd delay on all my fics. It's not that I didn't want to but I was going through some dark times since my two year long relationship came to an end, so I hope you all understand me. But I'm ok now, I'm already in that point of bitterness when you can stop complaining about love and start adoring unreal couples like Elizabeth/ Mr .Darcy and think "oh, too bad this kinda love never gonna happen to me…". So I'm ok to write romantic fanfiction again. _

_P.S.: I'm back on my old plans of becoming a crazy cat lady. I'll accept cat donations from now on. _

**Chapter 7: Tuesday****, heart attack (part 2)**

When I opened my eyes again, I couldn't see Rachel anymore: all I had around me were trees and birds. I sighed relieved to know I had been able to run and protect her. I hadn't ran too far though; I still could hear her breathe somewhere outside the small forest. I tried to pay attention at the sound so I'd calm myself but it made me no good: I kept thinking of Rachel with other men. I threw myself against one, two, three…six trees and the thoughts were still there.

"_Ooh, what is this I see? Is it possible that we have ourselves a little voyeur in our pack?" _

"_Get out of my head, Jared!"_

"_Oh, wow! And he's also apparently back to puberty! Sex dreams, Paul? _Really?_ Dude, when Jake sees it, he's gonna throw a tantrum!" _There was a second of silence_. "When do you think he'll phase next?" _

"_That's it! I'm taking your picture out of my wallet!" _

"_Boo-hoo." _Jared's sarcasm was interrupted by the sound of Rachel's pace getting closer and closer.

"_Leave!"_I said urgently.

"_Alright, alright…" _He answered, giving up_. "But, hey, Paul, listen…"_

"_What!?"_

"_You better sit down or she'll totally see your ding-a-ling." _

"_Your picture just got itself a fake mustache and a missing tooth, pal!" _He sneered but left anyway. As soon as I verified that he was really gone, I sat down to hide my boy parts.

"Paul?" Her voice was getting closer and her tone was threatening. "You better have a hell of a good explanation for leaving me like that or I'll … Oh." The end of the threat never came out from her mouth. She found me.

Her lips parted in surprise and her eyes widened not in shock but in glee:

"Oh, Paul…" She whispered. "This is…" She hesitated a little before taking a step forward. "May I?" She said raising an uncertain hand to touch me and I nodded.

If I had ever used the word "beautiful" to define Rachel, I now knew I had been legally blind. From the inside of a wolf body, everything became stronger: her citric, yet sweet scent , the outlines of her figure, the light coming from the two coals she held as eyes, her sounds and her pace…Her whole existence was just so incredible I had to fight myself not to bark the complete Moulin Rouge soundtrack at her (mostly because I thought "Come What May" would not sound as good in a "all-howls" version).

She tottered slowly around my huge body and I let all my senses follow her. She still had one of her hands on the air, just inches away from my fur, pondering whether or not to touch it. When she finished her first circle around me, she was on the tip of her toes, trying to look me in the eye; I laughed but all that came out from my mouth were growls, she didn't seem scared or alarmed by this, so I let my head down for a minute so she could see me properly:

"You know what's funny, Paul?" She finally gained courage enough to lay her tiny hand on my nose. "I can still see you."

Considering my size at the moment, it would be weird if she _didn't_, really.

She caressed my head and I had to start repeating **"must-not-lick-imprint's-face"** as a mantra in my head.

"I mean…" she continued, absorbed in her own thoughts. "You're a wolf and everything but…you're still Paul." Her eyes met mine and something like a thunder hit me in the heart. "Your eyes are the same…" She brought her face closer to my eyes and tittered. "You still have the same scared expression, you know? The one that says _"How the hell did I end up here?" _get it_? _It's kinda the same look cockroaches have when we hit them with deodorant and they get paralyzed, I guess." Oh yes, this is the perfect metaphor for my relationship with Rachel: I'm the poor insect and she's the bizarre kid who walks around the house holding hygiene products to torture me.

No wonder she thinks my _Rachelphobia _expression is my normal face.

"And your color…" She sighed. "It suits you." If she thinks dark grey is my color, she totally should see me wearing pale pink. It does wonders for my copper tone. "You're like a storm cloud, aren't you? You've always been like that." She smiled as if she saw in this a funny coincidence but I missed her inside joke. Her eyes looked lost for a moment before she sighed again:

"I wish I could hear what you're thinking." And then, to my great,_ great _shock, she pressed her nose gently against mine. Hadn't she watched "Beauty and the Beast" at all? This is like _KISSING _in any relationship between girls and mythological oversized beasts!

"_You must have some serious furry fetish, woman! Seriously, why can't you be this nice to me when I'm like __**human **__and stuff, uh?"_ She laughed out lout, completely oblivious to my inner wonders. I bobbed my head to one side, confused, and she patted me cheerfully:

"It just occurred to me, but…"She said inclining most of her body to one side and still fighting a little of her laughter back. "Are you trying to hide your…?" I whined to cut her off and she laughed even louder than before. When she eventually stopped, her eyes fell on mine again, bringing back the thunderstorm. "You're kinda cute when you can't speak."

Once again, buddy: the word we're looking for here is _zoophilia_.

She let go of me and said:

"Oh well, I'm getting a little hungry now, so how about you phase and we go back to the cliff, uh?" Ra! As if I'd ever get naked in front of that maniac. I arched my body, signalizing that she should climb. She smiled a little doubtful, but I could see excitement boiling on her dark eyes:

"Are you sure about it?" I snorted and – as usual – she felt dared, almost immediately climbing on my back.

And, all dirty and not dirty jokes intended, that was the most satisfying ride I ever gave someone.

--

"So, what do we have for lunch?" I said as soon as I came out from the woods and found Rachel setting our food on the floor. I was feeling very smart on the spare jeans I had brought. I hadn't been smart enough to bring a shirt, but still…

"Why are you shirtless?" She asked coldly, avoiding to look at me. She was obviously back to her old self:

"I don't have a shirt." I said shrugging. She raised her head to glare at me but gave up for some reason:

"Whatever; sit down." She said half-heartedly pointing to the place next to hers on the ground.

"What are these?" I asked gesturing to the plates in front of her. She smiled roguishly:

"I'm glad you asked." She then assumed a very formal tone of voice and started introducing all the dishes: "Over there we have some "Peanut & Pork Salad", right next to the famous "Georgia Peanut Salsa" and the delicious "Chicken Peanut Crunch"! I have also brought "Peanut Butter Turkey Rolls" and…" As she went on naming at least ten more peanut based dishes, my mouth opened more and more in shock. How far could that woman go to try to kill me? When she finally finished she looked at me with a smirk filled with fake innocence and said joyfully: "Oh! And we have PBJ's for dessert!"

I glared at her until her smile became a frown:

"Alright, party-pooper, I brought hot dogs." I raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed impatiently. "I guess I can take the peanut out of them." I smiled and sat down next to her.

"I liked you better when you couldn't talk." She muttered glumly as she bit her sandwich.

"I know." I answered a little to fast and her eyes flashed me with anger for a few seconds before she turned her face to another point and said, cleaning her throat:

"Just so you know…" she started. "It's not like I was impressed or anything. It's just that…It's wiser to treat a Quilleute wolf politely, right? What if I got you angry at me? I could not put myself at risk so I was just…Just following the protocol, ok?" My face transformed into a huge scowl at this:

"You're the worst imprint ever, you know that? They should call you a misprint."

"Don't blame me." She answered almost laughing. "You're the blind bloke who thinks I'm your lost other half. I have a brain, thus I'm totally sure you went nuts." We both laughed a little at this and - God knows how – this gave me courage to do the stupidest of moves:

"Admit it, Rach, you were totally dazzled by me back there." I said mockingly batting my eyelashes at her.

Why, sir? Why would I _ever _do that?

"Oh look! Your hand is completely healed from yesterday, right? Let's start my own tests now, shall we?"

"_What?"_ Was all I could say before I noticed she had taken a pocket knife from her belt and was now coming towards me with a winning smile on her mouth that was so big it was probably visible from behind. I started crawling backwards away from her, desperately.

"Oh, don't be such a patsy, Pauline! You can heal so fast! What are you afraid of?"

You, woman! _You!_

She laughed and said:

"Don't worry, silly! I have principles!" I stopped abruptly and raised both my eyebrows at her, full of suspicions:

"Principles?"

"Of course! I won't hurt you!"

I kept my stare.

"At least not seriously."

I started moving away again. She followed.

"Oh, c'mon! Listen to me! I created a few rules for myself so you won't be too injured!"

I stopped again, in shock. _"Too"_ injured, she says?

"Rules?"

"Ok, actually it's just one." I raised an eyebrow, inquiring.

"I won't break any _bones_."

Oh, how _comforting_!

"Rachel, give up! I won't let you do this to me! I know you too well!" I said standing up and rolling my eyes at her. She stood there, her knees on the floor and looked at me with disappointed eyes.

"Aw…but…" I tried to avoid her eyes.

"No, Rachel, no! You had your share of physically hurting me in the past and now it's done."

"But I just wanted to try…The Quilleute…legends…and…" I failed:

"Alright!" I said giving up and sitting down next to her again. "But you only get one shot! Only one, ok? After this one, the only way you'll see me healing is if I injure myself in battles or something of sorts, ok?" She smiled, her eyes shinning with hope and she looked absolutely gleeful.

"I only get one shot, right?"

"Right."

"So I better make it worth it!"

"Wait… what? No, no!" I said to no one as she ran towards the car to look for something to hit me with. How stupid of me! Now I was about to be bitten up with something heavy and potentially fatal. My jaw dropped when she came back holding the shovel.

"Oh…my…God…! You had this planned all along, hadn't you?"

"Kinda." She said, smiling sheepishly and playing with the shovel as if it was a baseball bat. "May I?"

I glared at her.

"You said I could." I sighed, knowing I had already lost that fight.

"Ok then. Where do you plan to hit me with th…?" Before I could finish my sentence, everything started happening in slow motion. Who would have ever guessed that if your imprint really wishes to hurt you, she'll be able to, even if you have your super reflexes, uh? I'll tell you who. The first wolf to be hit; and that, of course, would be me.

So yeah, just so you people know: if the imprint wants to hurt you, you're doomed.

Next thing I knew; I was rolling on the floor with pain, my back arched, crawling into fetal position and cussing like a sailor. The blood spilled from my nose in unreal amounts and my eyes were filled with tears; my voice came out partially muffled from the hand on my face and partially weak from all the pain so I wasn't sure I was making any sense:

"You awful awful being! I STILL FEEL THE PAIN!"

Rachel giggled. No, seriously, she _giggled_.

I set my nose straight and waited for it to fix itself. On the meantime she held the shovel with both hands and stared at me full of expectations.

"Put that thing _down_ before you get any closer to me!" She giggled again, that…_She-Satan. _

"Ok, ok." She said dropping the shovel on the ground. "Now let me take a look at this." She sat next to me and tried to take my hand away from my face but I didn't let her. "Oh, c'mon! I won't hurt you anymore."

"What happened to your "no bones" rule?" I said a little annoyed, finally letting her check my now almost healed wounds. She rolled her eyes at me:

"You're so silly, Pauline! I didn't hit any bones! The nose is basically cartilage!"

_I hate you! _I thought still teary eyed. I set my nose back on its place before it got fixed on a weird position, I didn't want to have to ask her to break it twice. No,no; I wasn't a masochist. She then proceeded to hold my face between both her hands and force me to face her. She had pulled a tissue from her pocket - she had the whole thing planned from the start - and started wipping all the blood from my face. We were standing very close and, with that, my last bit of self-respect was lost forever. _Oh, I love you! _I thought this time_. _

"Amazing." She said staring in awe to my nose. "This is incredible. Absolutely incredible." She stood still for a while, her hands still on my face but her eyes unfocused. "Say, Pauline…" She started with a whisper. "There's one more thing I'd like to test before we head home."

"Oh, is that so?" I still don't know how I even managed to say that with her body standing so close to mine. I was absolutely gone from this word by the time the distance between us started decreasing little by little. "W…what the hell are you trying to do?"

"Well, I thought it was kind of obvious. But go figure…You were always a little slow…"

"Are you serious?"

"Sure, I'm curious about it. Aren't you?"

"Yes, sure. More than curious, really…"

"Shut up. You're pushing."

"Sorry." We stood like this, staring at each other for a while, one more awkward moment to our collection. She let go of my face and turned away, playing with a pebble that sat just a few millimeters away from her feet:

"Don't get all worked up over this." She said not looking at me. "This is completely about science. Just to think about it, it makes me puke a little on my mouth."

"Are you trying to make me give up on kissing you? 'Cause I'm afraid it won't work." She glared at me with such anger that I just had to turn my eyes away from hers.

"As I was saying…" She continued, ignoring my comment. "This is purely about science. This imprint thing is supposed to be strong for both of us, but I don't feel a thing about you. Well, not unless you count pity as a feeling and…" Why is it that she has this need of hurting me every time, uh? Isn't she supposed to be an expert at this legends crap? She should know how much that hurts me.

"Listen, Rachel, don't feel obligated." I said standing up. "If you want me to, I can just go and search inside everyone's head so I can make you a formal report about kissing an imprint." She stood there, staring at me in surprise, twisting her thumbs around each other while she thought. After a while, she stood up and came walking slowly towards me, placing her hands back on my cheeks:

"I don't think it'll work. 'Cause even if you read their minds, I wouldn't know how the imprint feels, you know?" I was only partially paying attention because she had just stood on the tip of her toes to put her face closer to mine and I didn't seem to be able to think about anything other than the fact that that was adorable. But then, it hit me:

"Wait a minute, Rach!" She stopped abruptly. I know, I know; you'd think the wolf that imprinted would be all but willing to kiss his imprint but, honestly, I knew something was up. "You wouldn't dare…would you?"

"D-dare what?" My mouth opened in complete shock.

"You evil genius!"

"P-Pauline…I have no idea what you're talking about." You see, most occasions, this conversation wouldn't make her nervous, but I guess she was a little surprised that I had noticed her scheme.

"Rachel…Black!" I whispered slowly with narrowed eyes. "You spit this peanut from your mouth…right now."

"Damn!" She said spiting a peanut that was so huge it could be used as a golf ball. "How did you notice?"

"I know you. You wouldn't try to kiss me, unless you could get something out of it." Like my _death_, for instance.

She stared at the ground beneath her while making faces. She remained like this for a long time, maybe two minutes before raising her head at me and saying:

"Alright, let's do this, right?"

"What?"

"Kissing, of course."

"Do you have another peanut on your mouth?" I said, incredulous.

"No, I don't."

"Then…why would…?" I stuttered.

"Don't ask questions that I already answered, Paullyana." She said getting closer again. "I told you it's all about science. Peanuts or no peanuts involved."

"O…ok." My voice came out all jittery and girlish. Rachel put her hair behind her ears and approached me slowly, almost like dancing. She hesitated a lot before standing on her toes again and I tried to focus on her heartbeat but I wasn't able to do anything. It was like I'd been completely paralyzed; I just stood there, waiting, knowing I wasn't allowed to make any moves. Like the proud queen she was, I knew I should just stand there. I didn't close my eyes, not for a second, I just watched as she gained courage. And then, out of nowhere, she burst:

"I _can't_!" I blinked a thousand times, completely taken by surprise at her scream. "I tried, and tried but I kept thinking "Oh my! I'm kissing a girl! I'm kissing a girl!"" I snorted at this:

"Oh, c'mon! You've gotta be kidding me! You just came back from college! You can't be feeling guilty about kissing a girl!" Funny how it didn't occur me to deny the accusations of owning a second X chromosome.

"I know, I know." She said nervously. I also noticed that she didn't deny it, what made me love her even more. "But I simply couldn't. I don't know."

"It's ok, if you wanna give up. I understand if you're too nervous to go on…" Am I a genius or what? I knew that was all she needed.

"Nervous? Why would I ever be nervous about kissing..." Little pause for a scowl and a sneer. "you?" If this was a Western movie - what, let's face it, could totally be the case due to our origins - she'd be spitting on the floor and playing with the gun on her belt. "C'mon, let's try this again, bitch." She made me feel so used sometimes.

On the second (or was it third?) time Rachel Black tried to kiss me that day, things happened a lot faster – mostly because she'd been dared to do it. She got closer, on an impulse and I felt gravity crashing me, making me more than sure that my heart had went to my throat where it had soon gained the ability of break dancing and was now gladly impersonating Missy Eliot. She was so close, her hair tickled my cheeks and her warm breathe invaded my mouth, I had to remind myself to keep on breathing. Her upper lip touched my lower lip and for a fraction of a second, I got the fresh feeling of her cold skin against the warmth of mine before she gained distance again abruptly:

"No, I can't. How can you do this with anyone? This is awful." And if I had never been insecure before, now I can gladly look for therapy. "Seriously, Paul, don't you feel it? Is like being poisoned; everything about me was going numb. It felt horrible."

"Jeez, thanks."

"Oh, don't be a crying baby. I'm being honest here? Didn't you expect it to be…I don't know, _good_, maybe?"

"Were you expecting it to be good?" I said with a smirk I knew she wouldn't see.

"This is not the matter in question here!" She answered madly. "Didn't you feel like poisoning at all? How was it to you?"

"Er…it was kinda fast." Was all I could answer. I mean, honestly, could I really say I was surprised about the poisoning part when most of my life I'd been totally sure that kissing Rachel would kill anyone?

"Oh, you're useless." She said angrily, turning away to face the cliff. She went straight to the border – what made me slightly nervous, I gotta admit, even though I'm not half as overprotective as Quil - and lingered there quietly, the wind on her hair. I was starting to really worry when she finally chuckled and turned her head to face me:

"Hey, Pauline…" I noticed she had a stone under her foot. "Go fetch." She said before kicking the stone straight into the sea many meters down. Sure, she thought she was being funny and that I wouldn't go there and jump from the highest cliff in La Push just so I could get her attention, but hey…Why not, right?

I jumped.

Rachel, of course, could never have imagined that jumping from that cliff was actually a hobby for all of us from the pack and that I wouldn't get hurt at all, it'd just be pure fun, especially with the game of capturing the rock on my way down. Easily enough I grabbed the stone, held on to it and let my body fall on the cold water, tasting the salt on my lips and the refreshing feeling of my short hair getting soaked. I then rushed towards the top of the cliff and – before two minutes – I was back. I threw the stone in front of Rachel very proud of myself and smiled from ear to ear.

She, however, looked pale and scared. When her eyes met mine, her whole expression froze for a moment. After that, her eyes became red and I swear I saw her grabbing her pocket knife:

"I thought I had killed you!"

"Oh, don't be silly! A little jump like this is nothing for me." I tried to brag. Another stupid move of mine.

"Silly?" One of her eyes was now twitching. "_Silly_, you say?" She started walking dangerously towards me. "So you think it's _funny _to make me think I had killed you, uh? Is it a game for you? Was it fun, Paul? _Was it_?" I felt like I was eight years old again. Rachel was always putting me into danger and trouble and, more frequently than what anyone would enjoy, jeopardizing my life but if I ever done something dangerous that was not under her control…Then, as she'd always put it:

"If you're so willing to play dead, Paul…" She repeated the same words she often used when we were young. "Then just tell me, so I can kill you with my _bare hands_!"

This was when I wet myself.

"I'm sorry, Rach. It's just…I had to, you know! I have to do whatever you want me to."

"Don't blame this on the imprint too!"

"Too?" I asked confused.

"Yes! I hate this! You keep pushing your _"love" _at me like it's some kind of rule you have to follow!" She threw her arms, then gathered her things from the floor and started walking towards the car. "Well, Paul, I can't tell you how _honored_ I feel that you're cosmically obligated to like me. Oh, I feel _so special_!" She said ironically while opening the backseat door and throwing her backpack there. "It's every girl's dream: "Hey, listen, I have to love you"!" She kept on screaming and sometimes muttering. I started following her almost immediately. This was something I did subconsciously; it was all gravity's work.

"Rach…" I started whispering as soon as I reached the car. I was standing, holding the driver's side door open while she tried to open the passenger's door with some effort. "Rach, listen…"

"I had enough. I want to go home."

"Rachel, do you reckon things would be different if I just happened to fall for…?"

"**I- want- to- go- home. **_Now!_" She finally managed to open the door and get in the car. I tried to speak again but she just turned the radio on like the first time; louder and louder. This time the song was even worse:

"_Sugar/ Oh honey, honey/ you're my ca__aaaandy girl/ and you got me wanting you"_

"OH MY GOD! IS YOUR CAR GAY!?" She screamed with a really mad look on her eyes.

"ANGELINA IS A GIRL!" I answered offended. Rachel turned off the radio and stared at me with cold eyes:

"Just get in this piece of junk and take me home. Aren't you the one who can't disobey me? Then make yourself useful." She opened the door wide from the inside for me and I got in knowing that there would be no more talking whatsoever until the end of that trip.

**A/N: **_Well, this was a rather large unfunny chapter, right? But I did what I I like best is how Paul and Rachel are both changing their attitude towards each other. Noticed ;)? _

_Next chapter will be, of course: "Wednesday break my heart" so you can already predict what is coming. And I'm sorry for all the delay. The song displayed in this chapter is – of course- "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies. And, __well, listen to it!. _

_So, guys, __since I'm really down and stuff, do any of you want to make friends and become my bffs :~? It'd be good to get me distracted for a while. Not only facebook or stuff, it'd be great if you could, I don't know, send me a PM and stuff. I promise I won't be too boring (I think); I'm up for msn exchanging too. Seriously, anything would be welcome. I'll try to write the next chapter soon enough. There are only three more to go :D! _

**Special Note:**_For the last few days the Brazilian server wasn't working properly so I hadn't been able to even answer your reviews nor update the fic but now it's here (yay)! Meanwhile I sent a thousand e-mails to the site support and now they finally heard me *cries and sobs*. However, I don't know if they really heard me or if the site is just on a temporary good mood, so, just in case you don't get your review answered, it might be because of the server, ok? Lots of love, Clichesbullet. _

_**Special Note 2: I just edited this chapter 'cause Druidress Sieya pointed out that Pauline had not cleaned the blood from his nose - GROSS. So sorry about any unpleasant stomach turns I may have caused you. I once head a Jared in which Kim runs away, is missing for two days, pukes...And after all this they KISS. So, please, forgive me for not cleaning his nose - haha.**_

_P.S.: Is either this or I finally killed myself from all this bitterness and heartache ( lately I've been also imaginary dating two men at the same time: one of them is Matthew Lewis, the actor who plays Neville Longbottom, and the other is Christopher Chant, a nine-lifed enchanter from a Diana Wynne Jones book series - though this is quite an old affair of mine). _


	8. Chapter 8: Wednesday

**Bada Bing, Bada Boom!**

**A/N: **_Thanks to everyone who reviewed and sent me MP's. I'll answer all of them right after I post this. I'm feeling much better today, even though things are still pretty rough. Anyway, YAY ME for updating so fast, right? I mean less than two weeks? I should win a prize! Druidess Sieya, you've gotta earn a lot of patience – haha- cause I usually take a bit longer than that and I really don't want you to die from all the psycho waiting (though I do hope you're right now squeeing with excitement). _

**Obs: **_Hannah Nae commented wondering if I knew the song "I hate everything about you" and of course I do! Th__is is just one of the many songs that compose the idea for this fic but since it's so serious I can't really imagine Paul suffering that much over hating Rachel, he's a little too goofy for that, however, as an extra advice I suggest you to listen (or at least look for the lyrics because the songs really sucks lol) to "Just the Girl" by Click 5. It's a abusively "teenage-pop-song" and honestly my first idea of naming the chapters came from this music 'cause it fitted the plot so well, but then I changed my mind and used The Cure's song instead. __Anyway, here's a little quote from the lyrics:_

"_**She's cold and she's cruel **_

_**But she knows what she's doing **_

_**She pushed me in the pool at our last school reunion **_

_**She laughs at my dreams **_

_**But I dream about her laughter **_

_**Strange as it seems **_

_**She's the one I'm after"**_

_Anyway, enjoy the chapter! And, by the way, I hope you're all ready for some really nasty wolf angst. LOL. _

**Chapter 8: Wednesday, break my heart**

I smelled of sand and salt and the setting sun now hit my skin and eyes in a way that almost bothered me; next to me laid a sleeping Rachel. It was an amazing sight; I had never seen her let her guard down like that before – not even when we around five and it was naptime, really. She would stay awake and watch out to see if any monsters would rise from under her bed and try to attack Rebecca.

I now realize that she probably just was one of those kids who doesn't really need a nap during the day and only came up with the monster thing to frighten me.

Well, it worked: not once have I fell asleep under her watch.

Nevertheless, seeing her like that was like seeing a completely different person: her expression had softened without the constant wicked wrinkle between her eyebrows, her full lips were partially open and, without her usual smirk, there were no dimples on her cheeks - that I now could notice – were round, giving her face a childish aspect; her long eyelashes made pretty shadows over her cheekbones while her breast – not that I intended to look at it – went up and down slowly as she breathed.

As the car went over one particularly irregular road, she rested her head on my shoulder – I guess trying to avoid biting her own tongue while the car shook – and this sent me chills all over my body:

"Eek. You smell like you've been fishing for weeks." She said with her eyes still closed but didn't move her head.

"Uh, you wouldn't happen to have any sort of erotic fantasy involving wild spirited fisherman, would you?" I said cheeky with my eyes on the road, she just snorted:

"Shut up, Ariel." And, just like that, she fell asleep again. That was the thing about Rachel: just half an hour ago she had been screaming her guts out at me, insanely angry and now…there she was; sleeping comfortably with her head on my shoulder. We could never expect an apology from her but; on the other hand, she would never hold any grudges.

Unless, of course, she liked the idea of torturing you all the way into madness as it happened to me.

I slowed down the car so I could get more time to enjoy the situation fully. She looked so innocent, so pure, and so perfect: like an angel that decided to fall from the sky. Sure, Hittler might have looked innocent while sleeping too; everyone does. But Rachel Black was something else.

Her hair fell against her cheeks and the little wrinkle on her forehead told me this was bothering her so I delicately placed her hair behind her ear and watched her face a little more, sighing out of joy. She mumbled:

"I swear to you, Paul, you try to kiss me and I'll be testing the effectiveness of the healing process in cases of castration." Thus I was promptly reminded that the last angel to fell from the sky was called Lucifer.

--

As soon as I parked the car outside the Black's residence, Rachel's eyes popped open and she was suddenly very awake. Billy was waiting for us and wheeled in my direction:

"I see you're still alive. She must really like you." Billy said with a smile but before I could answer, Rachel appeared behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder:"Don't keep your hopes up, old man. There's no way Pauline here can convince me to stay in La Push. Besides…" she smiled "I'm only keeping him alive until he gets fat enough for us to feed him to Jake." Billy laughed while following her inside the house; I was right behind them, helping her with her luggage:

"Oh, what a wonderful idea! It's always so hard to afford your brother's protein diet! I don't think he'll be pleased to known the origin of the meat though."

"He'll never know." She said seriously and I chuckled nervously.

They both looked at me puzzled:

"What's so funny, Pauline?" Rachel asked me honestly surprised.

I have three words for you: one is "what", the other is "the" and the third can't be pronounced in the presence of minors.

"Well, dear…" Billy said breaking the awkward silence that was formed after her last statement. "I was just waiting for you to arrive so I could head to the Clearwaters. Your brother is out patrolling already. He's the alpha for the night; it's Sam's night off. Oh, and Paul…" He said, turning his face to look at me, "Sam wanted me to tell you that he was under the impression that he had a pack of ten wolves but he noticed that one of them has been missing a lot of pack meetings, so he's not that sure anymore."

"Tell him he's wrong, Mr. Black. Our pack only has 4 wolves; the rest of the numbers consist of a girl, a crying baby, three actual babies and a baby lover." I answered swiftly causing Mr. Black to laugh:

"It requires some guts to admit to others that we are crying babies, Paul. The ability of laughing at ourselves is something that I really appreciate on people, kid, I'll give you that." I was actually talking about his son.

"Well, I'm leaving, Rach. I left sandwiches on the oven for you." He said before closing the door behind him. Rachel thanked him and then turned around to face me:

"You wanna stay for dinner?" But I could see she was only being polite, so I refused:

" No, thanks, I guess I really need a shower and, as you could see, I think my boss wants me to work tonight."

"Oh." Was all she said before turning her back on me to enter the kitchen.

"So, well, I guess I should get going." I said awkwardly. Her face appeared again:

"Listen, Paul, there's something I need to say to you." She said walking hurriedly towards the living room sofa and asking me to sit next to her. Her heartbeat was failing almost as if she was the one afraid of me. "Please, Paul, sit down."

This was _not_ gonna be good.

--

"Open up!" I yelled while I threw my fist against the wooden door. Emily's scarred face soon appeared, completely puzzled:

"Paul? What time is it?" She said narrowing her eyes, trying to look at the clock hanging on the wall of the dark living room.

"Something around three in the morning." I answered while getting in. "Where's Sam?" I said with my most composed voice.

"He's upstairs but, Paul, you're a mess. Where have you been?" I was so mad I opened my mouth to answer something like "Yeah, but at least I don't have New York's map written permanently all over my face! Ra!" but Sam appeared in that exact moment:

"Paul, what are you doing here?" He said in a dreadful tone. "Were you bitten by a leech? 'Cause that's pretty much the only reason to appear at my place this time of the night, that will get you out of this situation unharmed." When I heard his voice, I suddenly lost control.

Everything went quiet for a second.

"OH, SAMUEL!" I threw my arms around his neck, sobbing like a maniac; enormous tears rolling down my beet red face. As Sam is not exactly the most articulated person ever, specially when it came to consoling people (I clearly remembered last time – during Harry Clearwater's funeral – when he tried to humor recently orphan Seth by saying something between the lines of "at least there'll be more french-fries left to you on the next family dinner, right?"), he just stood there in shock for a while, his arms apart from his body as if he had been covered by some disgusting fluid. Emily might have helped him out by my back because he awkwardly put his arms around me and patted me on the head:

"There, there." I knew they were both looking at each other with expressions of _"What the hell?" _on their faces 'cause soon Em whispered "I'll go get the ice cream!" and hurried to the kitchen.

"Er, hm, Paul, why don't we, hm, er…Why don't you sit down for a bit?" He started walking sideways, like a crab, very slowly towards the sofa with my body still locked to his as if he was my security blanket. I noticed he was doing his best not to trip on anything. "Seriously, Paul," He said struggling to get rid of my arms around his neck. "I know you're definitely suffering a lot but I have 30 rules about body contact and you just broke at least 27 of them." I held him tighter. "28!" he yelled. "Could you please get off me?"

I stopped sobbing for a second and raised my head to stare at him but my face was so red and swollen that Sam couldn't hold back a chuckle:

"WHY DOES EVERYONE MOCKS MY FEELINGS?" I burst.

"Hey, hey! Slow down a bit there, Goethe!" He said taking advantage of my sudden distraction to gain distance from me and sit on the armchair in front of the sofa he had sat me on. "Who else mocked your feelings?" I raised an eyebrow at Sam:

"Was this a rhetorical question?"

"Oh." He finally seemed to take me seriously. "What did she do to you?"

I stared at him in silence for a few seconds.

Then I burst again.

"Oh it was awful, Sam!" I sobbed five times before continuing. "She said she couldn't stay, that this place was suffocating her with memories, that every person and every place in La Push made her sick." I tried to take a deep breath to calm down but my nose was already so blocked that it was completely ineffective, so I just stood there, opening and closing my mouth in order to breath; much like a super sized goldfish or a bad looking drag queen pretending to be in labor. I was starting to panic and hyperventilate when Sam slapped me on the left ear:

"Snap out of it, patsy!" He sort of yelled. I looked at him disoriented for a few seconds:

"Thanks, man. I needed that." Then, in a lot more calm and controlled tone, I said: "She's leaving."

Sam stared at me in absolute shock:

"Leaving?"

"Leaving. For good. Next week." I was finally able to tell him how Rachel had told me she had to go away and that she felt sorry for the imprint thing, but that she had to leave, that things would never happen between the two of us. I took everything very cautiously, making sure to keep myself calm, so she just stood up and opened the door for me without raising her eyes. I proceeded to get home without phasing 'cause I knew that – since it was Sam's night off – the whole pack would be on four legs and I couldn't afford to share my thoughts at the moment. So, completely numb, I entered my place, took a shower, lay down, had dinner and went to check my messages before going to bed. That was when I lost it.

My parents had called me and as usual my mom was babbling like crazy about silly things and then she started talking about Rachel and the wedding. She'd lend her wedding dress and her wedding ring and all that crap. As if it couldn't get worse, my father appeared in the living room and she called him to the speaker. He was completely happy about our fake baby. "If it's a girl, we could call her Oprah!" were his exact words. After that, I simply had run around for hours before stopping at Sam's place in that desperate way.

When I was finished explaining, Emily came back holding a huge bucket filled with ice cream and handed it to me. As I helped myself, I stared at my two friends who were now having one of those silent conversations that only really intimate couples are capable of having. This seemed to trigger the seventeen year old prom queen inside me because I started crying again, this time with my arms tied around Emily's waist.

She had been standing up right next to the sofa and was taken by surprise, her whole body bobbing a little to the side when I grabbed her but ,once she got back on her feet, she put her arms around my head, caressing my hair and humoring me:

"Why can't _I_ have what you two have? You two are so lovey-dovey it makes me wanna puke!" Emily turned her head to face Sam and he shrugged:

"I think he's trying to make a compliment." He said.

"Oh, Em!" I continued not even noticing them anymore. "She used me! She used me to her little tests and now she's leaving! I was just a little dog to her inner Pavlov!" She patted me awkwardly on the head, very likely the way Sam had done earlier and said:

"Don't be silly, darling, I'm sure she didn't use you. It was probably just an argument. Every couple has their little quarrels."

"Really?" I looked up at her with only one of my eyes open, my voice sounding hopeful. "Even the two of you?"

"Of course, Paul!" She said while making me look at her in the eyes. "As a matter of fact, just tonight before we went to bed, we had this _huge_ argument, didn't we, love?" She looked at Sam and he nodded, pouting his lips as he did it:

"Em hates when I go to bed without a shirt on, you know? She says it's not appropriate for an unmarried couple."

"And Sam said that he had the right to sleep however he wanted on his house on his day off." Emily added. "And this was so rude that I started crying…"

"And I couldn't stand the idea of hurting her…" Sam is such a hypocrite! Couldn't stand the idea of hurting her? What's a little crying compared to the marks on this woman's face? I swear to you, I saw highways that were smaller than those scars! "…so I put on this shirt Quil gave me." He pointed to his own chest where a drawing of a weird creature wearing a red hat was holding a sign that said "Sam I am". Honestly, what kind of pedophile convention was this Fork's Library Children's Day Event anyway? I mean, why did they even had so many super sized male shirts to give in the first place?

"Yes, he did." Emily let go of me and went to stand right next to her fiancée, looking at him with adoring eyes. "And then I told him that maybe he didn't really understand why I felt uneasy yet because he hadn't thought it trough, I mean, I told him…If I had been the one to sleep without a shirt on…"

I stared at them and watched as they completed each other's sentences for over a minute.

"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?" I stood up at once, screaming. "YOU CALL THIS AN ARGUMENT? AND AFTER THAT YOU EVEN OFFERED THE POSSIBILITY OF GOING TO BED TOPLESS!?" I looked at them while grasping for air, my face red and a vein on my forehead popping. "I HATE YOU TWO!" I kept on screaming and hardly noticed when Emily turned to Sam and said amazed:

"Unbelievable! He really didn't phase." Sam nodded and asked her to please go upstairs. Once she had left he raised his voice at me:

"Paul, listen to me! Calm down!" I didn't:

"Rachel and I have ourselves miniature versions of the Waterloo Battle every _five _minutes and you call this an _argument_?"

"SHUT UP, PAUL!" This time he was the Alpha, so I stopped. "So you fight a lot, who cares? This doesn't mean she doesn't like you, ok? I mean, of course she doesn't; I'm your best friend and even I don't like you that much, but it doesn't mean you should simply give up." One more sentence to add to the list of reasons why Sam Uley shouldn't have been my first choice for a best friend. "What about those sci-fi movies you like so much; the ones with the guy wearing the black helmet and the little green goblin?"

"Darth Vader and Master Yoda?"

"Yes, whatever. Don't Indiana Jones and that woman with the weird hairdo get together in the end? They used to hate each other, didn't they?"

"Han Solo and Princess Leia?" Seriously, did Sam spend his childhood on a bubble or something? "Sam, you don't get it. She's evil!" He rolled his eyes at me. "No, listen, I mean it this time: she has no mercy at all. She keeps bringing up subjects that she knows will hurt me, she talks about other men just to make me jealous and…"

"Jealous?"

"Yes, jealous. Why?"

" Well, it's just that…It doesn't really make sense; imprint and stuff, that you're jealous of her. I mean, it happens, but not that early. But I guess it works differently for each one of us…Anyway, just so I know…how would you describe your relationship with Rachel before the imprinting, again?"

"Pretty much the same Joan of Arc had with the Inquisition." Sam waved me off:

"It doesn't make sense." He didn't seem to be paying attention at me at all. "I don't think I'll ever understand the way things work between the two of you."

"Ok, maybe I wasn't clear enough the first time: Joan of Arc was _burned_ by the Inquisition, ok? Literally burned, you know? With actual fire and stuff." Sam rolled his eyes and walked me to the door.

"You look tired, Paul. Go home, get some sleep; you need it. I'll talk to Rachel when I wake up later. Now, _please_, go home and get some rest. The last thing we need now is another cranky heart-broken wolf." He practically slammed the door on my face.

"I don't need some sleep!" I yelled at the closed door behind me as the first signs of the pink rising sun touched my cheeks. "And I won't take advice from someone wearing a "Green Eggs and Ham" shirt!"

--

I woke up several hours later in my bedroom, completely disorientated. When I finally realized the music was coming from my cell phone I picked it up without stopping to think that the "Psycho" soundtrack was the ring tone for one specific contact in my list. The digital clock on my end table showed that I had slept for over 18 hours:

"Hey, Pauline, could you open your door? I'm freezing here." Rachel's voice came from the other line sounding as moody as ever.

--

**A/N: **_Who doesn't like a good cliff-hanger, right? Anyway, I hope you liked this one and if I didn't answer your review/mp until now, wait a little and you'll receive your reply very soon. I'm just too tired right now from all this typing x_X! Well, I won't say I think this chapter was funny or unfunny cause I've been saying this so much and you always disagree so I don't wanna sound like a crying baby. Uahauhauah. Next chapter will be "Thursday never looking back" and Paul and Rachel will have some nostalgia moments! We're almost done with this fic. YAY. Only two more chapters to go. And surprise, kids: We'll have an Epilogue written in Rachel's POV. Who's happy about that? I am, I am. *-*~_


	9. Chapter 9: Thursday Again

**Bada Bing Bada Boom!**

**A/N: **_So, ok, this is my third attempt on writing this freaking chapter. *pulls hair from head* Wish me luck! And more: SO, how __**hot**__ is Alex Meraz, uh? By the way, have I mentioned how much I love when you people call Paul "Pauline"? It's totally adorable really. Actually, I think I've ruined Paul's character for everyone now (including me) – haha- I mean, every time he appears on the movie looking all hot, serious and moody I'm gonna look at him and think stuff like "Oh Samuel!" and "Angelina is a girl!" and start laughing even though he's so hot and everything, what about you? Maybe I should stop writing this while it's still safe _! lol. Ok, just kidding. Let's get this started already:_

**P.S:**_I just realized this chapter is REALLY serious and HUGE. So, please, I hope you don't mind the lack of jokes. We'll be back to our usual behavior after this. :B _

**Chapter 9: Thursday never looking back**

"Do you even _have_ any shirts?" She said as I opened the door. She had a half-empty bottle of soda on one hand and heavy-looking grocery bags on the other. I also noticed she had brought her backpack.

You see, I had my share of chick flicks on these recently completed 18 years of life I lived and if there's one thing I've learned from all of them is that whenever a girl shows up at your place in the middle of the night, it's probably because she just realized she can't live without you and had to see you to tell how she's madly in love with you. Due to the possibilities, I was almost glad to welcome the source of all evil inside my place that night. However, what they don't tell you in chick flicks is that – if the girl decided to appear in the middle of the night – that also meant that you'd probably be looking like crap, with a smashed sleepy face and bad, bad breath.

"Will you let me in or not?" She asked grumpily, raising an eyebrow at me. I didn't say anything and just stepped aside so she could pass.

Chick flicks also failed to mention that the first thing the girl would do once inside your living room was to check your DVD collection and almost immediately find all your hidden porn.

"Uh." She said before going really quiet for a while; she then picked one of the boxes and examined its cover with narrowed eyes. She quickly returned the DVD to its shelf with a disgusted look on her face. "Pervert." She said matter-of-factly, staring at me. I was coy for a second but then she rolled her eyes, chuckling, and I relaxed. "You look like shit." She commented while putting all the grocery bags on the couch.

"I overslept a little." She sneered:

"Oh, I would know that. I've been calling you for ages; all I got was that stupid answering machine of yours."

"You were calling me?" I asked confused. "Did something happen?" Rachel looked at me for a while, her eyes obviously weighing whether or not to tell me something. After a few moments, she simply glanced the other way. "Rach?" I asked again. This time I could hear her heart racing faster and faster as if she was actually nervous to be around me.

Yeah, right; an idea just as acceptable and plausible as Leah singing J-lo covers.

"Rach, please, if something happened; you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" My intention was to come closer and hug her, make all her worries go away but I was way too aware of my state at that moment to even dare an approach. Rachel snored and drank enormous sips from her bottle of soda:

"Sheesh! You're so prone to overreaction, Polly. Nothing happened." I noticed she avoided looking at me as she said that. She grabbed all the bags again and – with her eyes on my carpet the whole time - she asked:

"Say, you look like you need a good shower. Why don't you go, hm, wash up while I stay here and settle myself in and everything?"

"S-s-settle yourself in?" I'm sleepwalking. That's it: it's the only reasonable explanation for all this. "What you mean by settle in?" She shrugged and her answer came with a certain annoyance, like she thought I was being too slow:

"I thought I had made it clear that I was gonna spend the night." She pointed to her backpack resting on my sofa. Sure, she had been as clear as a block of concrete.

Now I was a hundred per cent sure this was a dream. I mean, Rachel Black appears at my door in the middle of the night, looks through my porn collection then says she's staying for the night: Ra! Sex dream for sure! I'm getting more and more imaginative ever since I imprinted.

It was weird though. I had thought I'd probably feel really bad if I saw Rachel now that I knew she had made her decision to not be with me. Nevertheless, from the moment I heard her voice on the other side of the line that night, my heart had been so bouncy you could almost believe he was part of the cast of "Bring it On!". It was like the day before had never even happened.

I was brought back to reality when an empty soda bottle – a _glass bottle, _by the way- was sent flying in my direction.

"What the _hell_!?" This fake Rachel acted too much like the real one. I grabbed the bottle seconds before it could hit me. Fake Rach even seemed as disappointed as the real one would have been.

"Go take your shower already! You look like you've been kept inside a drawer all day!" She was just as nice too! "Oh and…" She started hesitantly while I made my way towards the bathroom. "Do you mind if I use your kitchen while you're at it?"

"Sure, why not?" I wondered what kind of hidden sexual fantasy was that that I was having. Maybe the dream would be something based on "9 ½ Weeks", I thought.

**--**

By the time I finished showering, I was pretty convinced that that wasn't a sex dream (Fake Rachel _never_ missed shower foreplay). I walked slowly on the tiny hallway, back to my kitchen/ living room wearing sweatpants, the towel I had used still on my shoulders and my hair dripping wet. I found Real Rachel very concentrated on a task; she was chopping red peppers with a huge knife. I was suddenly divided between being amazed and being scared to death by her skills with the kitchen knife. I decided to compromise and go for a little bit of both.

Her long bangs covered most of her profile even though the rest of her hair was neatly tied down on a long ponytail with a little curl on its tip. The living room lights were all turned off and with only the TV illuminating her, her skin was divided in shades of white and blue but thanks to my wolf vision I could still see the light yellow of her wool pullover and crimson of her nails perfectly. I was so overwhelmed by this image for a while that I almost didn't pay attention at the sounds coming from the TV.

And, honestly, the moans, groans and screaming were pretty hard to ignore.

"What the hell are you _watching_!?" I ran towards my TV and grabbed the DVD box on the coffee table. "_"SMOOTH TEENS AND HARDCORE DOCTORS!?" _Why on earth would you even be watching this!?_" _She just looked at me and shrugged shamelessly:

"Just wondering what kind of disturbing things you'd be interested in." She made a pause and looked straight through me, focusing on the TV on my back. "You do realize these girls are faking the whole thing, right? Sex is _not_ that good."

That was it. I turned the TV off and looked at her with my most meaningful gaze.

Look, I had imprinted on her; if she wanted to visit me in the middle of the night; that was _great_! If she wanted to stay for the night, even though she didn't gave me any previous warning, I didn't mind – she could have my bed if she wanted to, I'd gladly give it up to her. But no one – and I mean NO ONE – ruins porn for me _three times_ and walks away without listening:

"Rachel, do you know how I phased for the first time?" She looked pretty shocked for a second:

"Oh, please! Tell me this story has nothing to do with porn!" She exclaimed horrified. I gasped:

"Christ! No!" I said. "Listen; usually the first phasing happens because we keep getting upset over every little thing and one thing keeps adding to the other until we finally explode, right?" She nodded. "Well, you know me: there's just so much anger I can afford to gather." She nodded again, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, as there wasn't any anger accumulating, one day, after school, I went to the mini market to buy a "Kit Kat" bar but they had run out of them. I was really upset and as soon as I stepped at the beach that – thank God – was basically deserted, I saw a toddler _devouring _the last "Kit Kat". I remember thinking that was completely unfair since the kid wouldn't even remember the taste in a few minutes. And I also remember thinking I should leave before I tried to steal candy from a kid and then…Bam! I turned into a wolf." Rachel stared at me with absolute shock:

"You phased over a "Kit Kat"?"

"No, wait! It gets worse!" I said. "Back at that time, the only ones besides me were Sam and Jared and no one was expecting me to phase, so there wasn't anyone there for me. So I just thought I had being transformed by_ God_ as a punishment for my greed."

"Your greed for Kit Kat…" I ignored her:

"So I went home still in my wolf form, trying to figure out what to do. I knew I wouldn't be able to get in, or talk to my parents, but I could at least try and see them one last time. So, I heard my father screaming and crying, saying that I was taking too long to get home and that he was _sure _I had been kidnapped because the same thing had happened in "Days of our Lives" or something and that they should start to worry." Rachel rolled her eyes at this as she also knew my father's tendency to overreaction way too well. "So, all of a sudden, my mom comes out of the house – that tiny, happy-go-lucky piece of woman -and stares at me with the most annoyed look ever, like she wasn't surprised at all and says: "Uh! There you are! I should've seen this coming." She smacks her head. "Oh, well, it's gonna be so hard to keep this from your father! I wish you could phase back soon…" She stops and looks at me again. "Who am I kidding? If I know you, you'll be like this for three months on _the least_!" I just stood there, wondering if my mother had gone senile but she just kept on talking to me as if she wasn't scared at all and then she says: "Don't worry, darling. Momma will fix it. I'll go inside get some help." I honestly thought she was gonna grab some holy water to throw at me but she just called Sam Uley and him and Jared soon joined me." I made a little pause. "I did take around three months to phase back though. When I got back home my father was recording a video for the press surrounded by reward money asking people to bring "his little boy" home, even though my mom had already told him I was on a school trip."

"You and your father are a lot more alike than what you think." She said with her eyes on the red peppers. "But why did I have to listen to all this?"

"_Because_ I could _swear_ I'd never have to face a day as weird as that one ever, _ever_ again and honestly RIGHT NOW" I shook the DVD box in front of her face. "I'm really starting to have second thoughts!" I took deep and long breaths, trying to calm down. "Seriously, Rachel, why are you here?" She looked almost embarrassed for half a second and then turned around to check on the water. She didn't answer me:

"Pauline, pass me the red peppers will you?" Almost as a reflex, I passed her the tray where the chopped red peppers laid. She thanked me but said nothing else. We stood like this for a long time, both very silent as she cooked. The only noises in the kitchen were our breathing (that became heavier and heavier as I approached her) and the "blop, blop" of the boiling water – occasionally interrupted by the sound of ingredients being dropped. I watched in silence as she added meat, tomato sauce, spice and beans to the other pan.

"You know, you don't have to stand there and check. I won't put any peanuts." She said without turning around. "Besides, you're so close you're breathing on my neck. It's really annoying." I hadn't noticed how close I had gotten to her on the last few minutes. I might have done it all by instinct. Good thing I had brushed my teeth then. "Hm, the sausages are done, the sauce is ok…Let me check on the chili…" She was mumbling to herself. Wait a minute!

"You're doing chili hot dogs?"

"I thought this much was pretty obvious. Damn, you're slow." She still didn't look at me. "Why? Aren't you hungry?"

My stomach rolled over noisily like a purring cat who wants to be caressed. Rachel chuckled:

"I guess you're then."

"Of course, but…"

"What?" She finally turned around to look at me but since she did it so abruptly, she clobbered against my chest. "I thought this was your favorite dish, did you get sick of it?" She was rubbing her forehead. "You were very partial about it when we were kids! Your parents would always buy us tickets for the baseball season and I was forced to go. You always ate like ten of these every time, so I…" I put one of my hands on her shoulder to sooth her and chuckled:

"Rach, relax, I still love chili hot dogs the same way I always did." She smiled relieved and I as I watched her from above like that, I couldn't help but wonder how I had never noticed that beautiful girl before the imprint. It seemed so senseless to let a girl like that pass me by, especially when she was by my side my whole life.

Even if she happened to be one of the signs of the Apocalypse and all that; she was just too pretty to go unnoticed.

Like in slow motion, she placed both her tiny hands on my chest. Under the contact of her soft skin, I felt my heart fail.

Then she pushed me aside with all her strength, saying:

"Will you let me _pass_? You're so big I'm getting claustrophobic here!" I stepped aside so she could pass. "Haven't I told you not to stare at me like that? It's weird!"

"Sorry." I answered automatically. She went through her grocery bags again and took a big box out from one of them. She handed it to me. "What's this?"

"Dessert." She said while making her way to sit on a chair on the other side of the counter. The box was filled with jellybeans.

"No blues." I whispered to myself but she heard me anyway and said:

"Of course; I know better. Last time someone tried to make you eat one of those you threw a tantrum and ran to the coordination room, crying for help. You'd think someone had committed a crime." She scowled.

"Tasting like feet _is_ a crime in Candyland." I answered and she chuckled. "Besides, they weren't _trying_ to make me eat them. It was more like shoving ten of them in my mouth all at once." Rachel winced:

"Ouch. Who would do that?"

"You." She didn't even flinch:

"Well, we do all kind of silly things when we're kids, right?" She asked smiling.

"You were _seventeen_!"

This time she actually guffawed. My first intention was to scream _"It's not funny, you evil little witch!"_ But when I noticed, I was already laughing along with her.

Gravity is a little bitch.

We eventually stopped laughing and I sat across from her on a chair on the kitchen side of the counter:

"Rachel…" I started for what seemed like the bazillionth time that night. "Why are you here, really? Cooking me my favorite dish for dinner, bringing me dessert, making sure not to bring the one kind of candy I don't like…" I placed my hand on top of hers.

She took it away immediately:

"Don't get the wrong ideas, Pauline. I'm just avoiding an "Airport Scene."

"A what?" I raised an eyebrow at her. She seemed pretty impatient as she started to open the bread:

"An "Airport Scene"! You know what I'm talking about, Paula. Like in movies when one of the characters is leaving and the others goes after him to declare their love and stuff." Yes, I knew what that meant I just didn't see how that could apply to us. She rolled her eyes at my puzzled face. "I know you, Paul. I bet ever since you heard I was leaving next week you've been trying to keep calm, knowing you won't be able to and sulking obsessively into your own sadness so that in the last moment you decide to do something dramatic and stupid."

Long pause. My mouth opened in a big scowl of shock. How dare she think all those things of me!?

"Don't you pretend to be shocked! You know damn well I'm telling the truth." She knew me too well. I looked at her with narrowed eyes but gave up sheepishly. She snored and ignored me: "So, to avoid your habit of turning anger into…" she made a long pause looking for the least offensive way to put it. "Into gay attitude that you think it's passionate…" That's the best she could come up with. "I'm gonna stay here at your place for a while, spend as much time as possible with you 'cause I know you can't be upset while you're around your…your imprint." I didn't know to react to this. In part I was absolutely thrilled by how sweet she could be – even if for the wrong intentions – but mostly I was depressed. I honestly believed the reason she was here was because she had finally waken up to the fact that we belonged together and that she was going to stay here and be my wife.

Part of me – a younger, much more traumatized and not imprinted part of me – was also really scared by the thought of making Rachel Black my wife.

However, all I could think about was that she was still leaving. She wouldn't be with me forever, I'd lose her. It all seemed pretty senseless; what would I do after she was gone? What did I use to do before she appeared?

"Ugh!" Rachel knocked her head on the counter, frustrated. "Don't look at me with these eyes!" She took a deep breath and raised her eyes to look into mine. "Look, that's not the only reason I'm here. I thought I could get by without telling the whole truth but when you look at me like this…" She seemed pretty mad at herself at the moment:

"Look. I'm no good with this sentimental crap." Oh really? I'd never have guessed. "I never was, never will be. Becky is the one with all the hearts and rainbows shit. I like to work with logic and numbers and statistics but every now and then…I'm so bad at this I mess up. I mess up really hard." She sighed again and looked around as if checking if someone was eavesdropping:

"Today I was talking to Jacob." She looked rather sad. "I had noticed he was weird but I hadn't had found the time to talk to him up 'till today. So…we talked. About the Bella Swan thing, you know?" I sneered:

"Oh, _I know_." I'm the one who has to share his head, not her. She stood up and started serving the hot dogs, mumbling something about how weird it was for someone not to have a kitchen table.

"Anyway, Jake's broken, Paul. He's all bitter jokes and mood swings but all this anger he shows is just play pretend." She said. "When I talked to him, I could see something I had never seen before. It's like my little brother didn't even exist anymore. I had never seen him sad, never. Not like that, not even when mom passed away. The way he looked at me when he talked about her wedding…" She took a big bite from her sandwich and chewed in silence, thinking. "I hate that Bella Swan, Cullen…whatever her name is now. I don't want to see that look on my brother's eyes snever again. I want to protect him; I want to beat the crap out of that girl until she feels so much physical pain she realizes she wants to keep on living."

I didn't like Bella Swan either, but the way Rachel was talking almost made me feel sympathetic for her.

"And that was when I noticed, Paul…" She sounded really, really guilty "that I had seen that look before." She raised her hand, like wondering whether or not to touch me but gave up. "I had seen it once before." She was quiet for a while. "When I told you I was leaving." Her eyes were very sweet; definitely a first:

"And I don't want to be the one to cause that kind of pain to anyone. Not even to you."

"Jeez, thanks." I said moodily. She ignored me:

"So I realized I was your Bella Swan, you know? And I felt guilty, but I'm not good with guiltiness either and so I remembered that every time my mom hurt my father's feelings…She'd cook his favorite dish, you know?" I used all my will not to jump over the counter and make out senselessly with Rachel. "It's all I can do." She whispered.

"You could always stay, you know?" I tried. She just shook her head at me.

"No, I can't, Pauline. I can't stay…_here_." She looked at me again. "Please, stop looking at me this way!"

"It's not my fault! You make me really, really sad! Every time you say you're leaving is like watching the ending of "Old Yeller" for the first time for me!"

"Well you shouldn't feel like this! You know that if it wasn't for the imprint you wouldn't even like me, so try focusing on that, can't you?! I can't be that important!" She tried desperately. I took one of her hands and said:

"Rachel, you're the worst human being to ever live since Hitler. You're evil, methodic and _sometimes_, really, kind of a sociopath." She looked at me with wide eyes. "But I love you." She tried to take her hand away from mine, I didn't let her. "I really love you. Yes, if it wasn't for the imprint, I'd never, ever consider you as an option but I'm glad the imprinting happened." Wait a minute! Am I? "You might think imprinting is a bad thing, that I wouldn't fall for you if it wasn't for it but, honestly, at least for me…I feel like the imprinting was only a neon sign placed above your head and if it wasn't for it, I'd probably let you pass me by. And I wouldn't want that. Look at all this, look at what you're doing for me, even though you know you don't like me, that you can't stay here. You are amazing. You always have been, you were always my idol and if it wasn't for the imprint, I'd probably never have the courage to even look at you this way. So, yes, I'm glad it happened."

She stared at me for a long time; I doubt she was even breathing, her cheeks very pink, and her eyes very wide. I took deep breaths, wondering if I had gone too far. She looked at me, finally looking as if she was gonna say something and then:

"Buuuuurp." Something inside me screamed _"I take it back! I take the whole thing back!" _"Hm! This is some strong chili." She said letting go easily of my petrified by the shock hands. "Well, I'm full. I'm going to get ready to sleep. Do you have a guest bathroom?"

"S-sure…Is…just down the hall." I answered still in shock. She looked at me with analyzing eyes:

"I'm sorry, Paul, I don't expect you to understand this but…" She took my hand again since it was still hanging in the air. "There are just so many things on the way between us. You're the only one here who imprinted. I see no neon signs. I love you too, you know? You'll always be like a baby brother to me. I know I'm awful when it comes to showing my feelings and that I was always putting you in trouble but I was the only one who could do that. I was always protecting you when you couldn't see. I love you, kiddo, I really do. But to me, you'll always be little Pauline, no matter how much you grow. Or growl, if you know what I mean." She closed her eyes; I guess that trying to avoid the look on my face.

I can't believe I went through all of this to get the "you're like a brother to me" line in the end. No, seriously, hadn't I had enough of this one in my life? Rachel opened her eyes and looked at me very worried:

"Should I hold your tongue down? You look like you're about to have a convulsion." I let go of her hands and without blinking, I said:

"N-no….G-go take your shower. I'll just…sulk here and all that." I said trying to walk to the couch.

"You're being a drama queen." She said again. I looked up at her.

"Did I turn into a wolf?"

"No."

"Then I'm not being a drama queen yet. Go take your shower." Amazingly, she obeyed me. "And Rachel…" She turned around to face me:

"Just so you know…I'm not your brother…" She opened her mouth to speak. "…nor a little boy for that matter." She didn't say anything this time.

--

Half an hour later I found her sitting on my couch wearing sweatpants like mine, a white t-shirt and a men's shirt above it. She was watching a "Three Stooges" rerun on TV.

"You know, I don't think I can ever like this." She said without looking at me:

"Why not?" I asked.

"I have ovaries." She answered matter-of-factly and then turned around to face me. "Where have you been?" she asked while putting a jellybean on her mouth.

The truth: "I turned into a wolf and then ran around La Push for half an hour trying to knock trees down with my head." The answer I gave her:

"I went out for a walk." I said shrugging and pouting my lips, sitting with her on the opposite side of the couch.

"I don't know how you manage to go out shirtless with this weather. Even if you're a werewolf the wind is too cold." Once again, she was trying to act like nothing had happened between us but, this time, I knew we had little time together so I decided to play along:

"I'm very warm. I don't _feel_ cold." Rachel held her knees and as she placed her feet on the sofa, I noticed she was wearing socks too.

"It's the middle of summer, how can it still be so cold?" I could smell the rain approaching La Push; she was now gritting her teeth. I smiled smugly and went very quiet as we watched TV.

The noise of her teeth was becoming more and more evident.

"Do you have a blanket, Pauline?"

"You are already using all my spare ones." I told her. "But, you know…"

"No!" She said.

"You know you want to…"

"Do not!"

"Yes, yes…You kinda do." I had nothing else to lose so I might as well try to have some fun. "You know…we really _are_ warm."

"Oh, shut up." She said standing up and walking to sit on the spot right next to me. "Alright, do your magic, all mighty human space heater." She was looking straight to the TV completely avoiding me, her eyes narrowed and her lips pouting. You could see she was really angry.

Slowly, I embraced her with one arm and brought her closer to my chest. Almost immediately her shaking soothed and, when I noticed, she had curled herself on the sofa again, no longer tense at all. Her heart, however, started to dance on a pace I didn't know yet – sometimes calm, sometimes hurried. We didn't say anything, we just watched TV.

"You _are_ a minor." She commented suddenly after a few minutes of this. I had been too focused on smelling her hair to even pay much attention at that:

"No, I'm not." I corrected her. "I'm eighteen." With her head on my chest, she raised her shin to look up at me:

"Now, that's impossible. When did that happen you say?"

"The same time it always does: on my birthday, in April." Realization took over her face and she said with her eyes back on the TV:

"I sometimes forget you're a few months older than Jake."

"A bit more than a few." I said still enjoying the scent of melon on her hair.

"I let this kind of thing pass me."

"You let a lot of things pass you, Rach." I said, chuckling, while I stroke her hair absently, just because I felt like it – I wasn't really paying attention. Ever since I had imprinted I had wondered how it felt to caress her hair and I didn't feel disappointed at all: it was soft and smooth and it smelled great. She raised her head again – this time completely - so that we were making eye contact. For a second I thought she was going to rip my eyes out for touching her like that as she looked so fuming but then I noticed her heart vibrating against my chest and noticed her cheeks were getting increasingly red. She looked at me but then her eyes glanced the other way and when she spoke again her voice was so weak I barely recognized it:

"I hope you understand that this doesn't mean I'm staying." And before I could do anything else, her lips were glued to mine.

--

**A/N: **_Please don't kill me because of the cliffay ;x! Next chapter is "But Friday never hesitates" and it's "the last". We also have one other chapter – an Epilogue on Rachel's POV – so technically there are still two chapters for this to be done. And, just so you know, since this is ending, I'd like to get ideas for the next shipper I should write about, please tell me what you'd like. I'm also going to work on a series of one shots about the people in the pack before and after they phased in the same universe of this fic here so there'll be loads of Paul/Rachel moments and whatever else I decide: Sam/Leah, Sam/Emily, Quil/Claire, Edward/Seth…Oh wait, not that. Anyway! Please review and let me know what you want me to do next._

_Thanks to Druidress Sieya for being such a psycho reader and sending me a thousand pm's and stuff. I'll now answer your other reviews and PM's. : )_

_Oh, do any of you have a twitter? I did one to stalk Matthew Lewis but I get really lonely there. _


	10. Chapter 10: Friday Again I

**Bada Bing Bada Boom**

**(Very Important) ****A/N: **_Hello, kids! Yes, I know I exceeded everyone's expectations on the delay this time –lol – so sorry about that. In my defense I'll use the argument that my ex got a new girlfriend around three weeks after we broke up and didn't tell me for five months and since she partially helps in a twilight site, I got a little angry for a while if you know what I mean *bitter pause*. Anyway, seriously, forgive me._

_However, I realize__d it's been a LONG time since I had last updated and since the chapter was turning out to be SO long I decided to split it in two so this is only part one of the last chapter. It's not really funny cause it's LITERALLY the first part of the chapter so is basically just one long scene. What leads me to telling you that you're about to read a make out scene. That said, let's hope none of you gets offended by whatever is in it – although I'm sure nothing is M rated even though very…detailed. Anyway, enjoy! And I promise the next chapter will be up a lot sooner than this one. I mean, I have a four hour long anthropology class on Friday; something HAS to be written during it. Ha-ha. _

**Chapter 10: But Friday Never Hesitates… (Part I)**

Ok, so maybe this _was_ a sex dream after all.

Her lips touched mine softly once, her mouth partially open; it was slow, hesitant and quite brief. Since it had been so sudden, I didn't even have the time to close my eyes. She was on top of me, her knees on the couch, her hands, one on each side of me but far from me. Our bodies weren't even close from each other but her mouth rested less than an inch away from mine; her eyes were barely open, her gaze escaping mine the whole time. She breathed in and out shallowly, I was probably doing the same, I wouldn't really know.

And then, she did it again.

And again.

And again.

Every time softly and briefly; locking my lower lip between hers, gaining distance for a moment and then doing the same to my upper lip. I didn't dare to move; that was too good to be interrupted. Sure, I had no idea why she was doing that and I was not sure I'd ever be able to understand her well enough to know her reasons but hey, why bother figuring her out her now, uh? I had more than a lifetime to worry about that. Plus, I didn't mean to jeopardize whatever was going on between us by attempting to touch her. She chuckled:

"Well, you sure _kiss_ like a minor." Of course, my fear only lasted 'till she said that.

Then I just _had_ to prove her wrong.

In a swift reaction, I held her by the waist and knocked her (in a good way, I swear) so she'd be under me on the other side of the sofa. I'm not even sure how I've managed to gather the courage to do that. She was static for a while, her breath failing, I couldn't tell if for shock or anger but I knew she hadn't seen that one coming. For a second I was scared I might have had gone too far. But she wrapped her arms around my neck so tightly her elbows were touching on the back of my head. A playful smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. My eyes narrowed as a smug smirk crossed my lips and she pulled me closer at once.

All the time I kept wondering what could have possibly caused this. Not that I was complaining or anything, I thought as I pulled her hips against my waist. No, no; nothing like that. But it was still pretty weird.

Awesome, amazing and very, _very_ hot – but weird nevertheless.

We were the perfect fit – like every little curve on her body had been created to suit me – and this isn't even a sex metaphor! We were just kissing and I could already tell that every corner, every turn, every inch of her skin was a missing piece to my puzzle. We moved with perfect chemistry, completely in sync.

The one time I had ever been that in sync with a woman was a very humiliating memory involving my father insisting on us spending valuable time together and rumba lessons (I wonder what Mrs. Gonzales is up to lately. I miss her).

Our lips were almost never apart this time; on the rare occasions we'd gain distance, Rachel would pant and I'd wheeze, then we'd get back to business.

Had it been the porn? – I considered at some point – Was she into doctors? Teens? Girl on Girl? Whatever that movie showed that made her this way, I should probably tell her I had the complete series, just in case. She was pulling my hair, biting my lips and tracing lines in my skin with her nails.

Maybe she was into the hardcore stuff then.

Still, it bothered me a little not being able to understand her, to fill in the blanks she had left for me. It was frustrating not having the explanation for actions. Above all things, I was in love with her, shouldn't I be able to understand my soul mate?

Rachel pulled away a little and started to take off the man's shirt she was wearing.

Ok, it's official: all internal questioning and guiltiness over not being a good soul mate will be left for after all this is done.

I leaned forward to brush my lips against her bare shoulder and I felt her shudder nervously under my touch. She placed her fingertips on my mouth and whispered on a throaty chuckle:

"Calm down, kid. I'm only taking this off 'cause you're so hot I'm starting to get wet." She was abruptly quiet, assimilating her words only when it was too late; I laughed out loud and she smacked my head even though she was trying not to laugh too. "I meant _sweat." _She was quiet again, realizing it still sounded bad. "You know what I mean, moron!"

I placed her face between my hands, trying to make her look at me but she just rolled her eyes, grabbing my wrists and pulling them away.

"Will you stop trying to be sweet?" She pulled me closer again, kissing my neck and whispered to herself. "You're only making this worse." Even though she still had her other shirt on, just feeling the bare skin of her shoulder and arms made my stomach flip with adrenaline.

And – I believe – years and years of accumulated testosterone.

Her mouth opened a little, pulling me in a little more.

Yes, yes; _definitely_ testosterone.

There were so many things I couldn't understand at that point. The weirdest, of course, being the fact that I was still able to wonder anything while Rachel Black's legs curled around themselves around my waist but still…I mean, less than an hour ago she had said she'd never sees me a nothing more than a little brother and now…here we are, lying horizontally on my couch doing things I'm pretty sure Henzel and Gretel never did to each other. But, then again, "Rachel" did mean "Jacob's wife"…

_What- the- hell –__ am- I- thinking?_

I was so overwhelmed for a second that I pulled away hastily and stared at her in shock, wondering whether or not asking "hey would you and brother happen to have had some tongue action with each other in the past?" would ruin the mood. That was when I noticed that for once her eyes were not hidden.

I knew her diabolic eyes, I knew her expressions ("Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer" said the wise Corleone) and I was now falling hard at all the gravity she kept on her eyes; I simply couldn't look away. And for the first time – I could notice – neither did she.

Not daring to blink, I started pulling her closer as I raised my body very slowly into a sitting position again. Once we were both sat – still very close – her eyes started studying my face as if it was the first time she had ever seen it, almost like she was looking for something. I tried doing the same to her but no matter how many times or for how long I stared I would still be disappointed by the lack of answers lingering there. She was unreadable.

I stood very still as she read me. Her fingertips brushed my face every now and then as she tried to draw the shape of my lips and cheekbones. Her eyes started to close again as she approached me for another kiss. I placed my arms around her waist, enjoying this new closeness. Even though softer and with a lot less body contact, this kiss seemed to be the most important of them all. For some reason, I couldn't really find the mind to worry about; she put her hands delicately above my eyes. It didn't bother me; I thought it suited the situation. At that moment, as cheesy as it sounds, she really was blinding me to the world. As I touched her – every tiny collapse of skins – something grew on me.

Alright, poor choice of words.

There was an urgency inside me, a power stronger than gravity moves, really. I didn't feel our hearts beating anymore, we simply vibrated in unison. It was a scary feeling, like I'd fall apart the moment the contact between us broke. It was so strong and nauseating at the same time, I couldn't really tell if I should blame the imprinting or the chili hotdog Rach had made us. I held her tighter against me, knowing for sure that nothing would ever to compare to that person so close to me and I still wanted us to get closer, to crash into each other maybe. Nothing would ever be enough, she was mine, I couldn't just let her go.

"Don't go away." My voice came out sounding much more like a begging than what I had intended to. "Don't go, please. Stay here with me." She wasn't listening to me, I realized. And I sincerely doubted she'd ever do.

Pain took over and my kiss grew urgent, passionate, my hands stronger on her waist, my lips always on her, my heart racing faster, faster, faster…I was surprised I didn't phase, it must've been the new control she had given me.

I felt her uneven breath on my ear and I quivered – my head drawing a complete blank. Her body was suddenly heavier as she leaned on me, making me lie down on my back. She felt cold against my skin but it didn't bother me, everything about it had a refreshing feeling. Like jumping inside a pool on a hot summer day; I could tell we'd soon find our thermal balance.

Her index finger traced lines on my chest and belly. Circles and drawings lazily written, giving me the chills. "Paul" I thought I heard her whisper once her finger reached the waistline of my paints. She drew lazy, light lines right above it with her nail – going back and forth from left to right. Her lips were now on my jaw, making their way back to my mouth again. "Paul…" Was she actually saying that? Even with my super hearing, I could barely hear her. I pulled her closer, almost forgetting to control my strength. I couldn't think straight anymore.

I opened my eyes one last time to see her face. I couldn't allow myself to speak 'cause I knew exactly the words that'd come out of my mouth and ruin everything, so I remained in silence.

I wanted her so bad.

Her index finger pulled the elastic of my pants away from my skin a little and for a second I really believed I'd explode into a wolf, so out of control I was…

But at this moment, my phone rang.

At freaking _four in the morning, _my phone rang.

And it rang and rang and rang and rang…

"You should probably get that…" She said starting to pull away.

"No, no. It's probably just a prank call." I said trying to pull her closer again. She looked at me with piercing eyes:

"At four in the morning? Who would ever do_ that_?" She would. "Go pick it up!" She stood up and, for the first time in ages, I actually felt cold. "It could be Sam or one of the others! Something might have happened."

"Nah, it's nothing like that! We usually just growl really loudly when it's something like that." I waved her off, she sighed impatiently:

"Well, if you're not answering, then I will." She marched determinately to the phone and picked it up:

"Hello, Rachel Black speaking."

"Oh, Rachel, dear! It didn't occur to me you could be there, how naïve of me!" Rachel's eyes narrowed as she tried to recognize the cheery voice; half a second later, her lips mouthed the words without making a sound:

"It's your father." She didn't have to though, I had already heard him.

"Hm, yeah, I'm here." She said in a dull tone. I couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or upset. "How are you doing, sir?" My father was suddenly very serious.

"Oh, honey! I just had the _worst _nightmare." My jaw dropped. Please- _please _– I prayed to all the gods I knew – say he's not saying what I think he's saying. "I dreamed Paulie…" There was a long, heavy pause. "Paulie was in a_ terrible_ accident…" he started sobbing. "I needed to hear his voice, you know? A father misses his son too! I hate not knowing where he is every minute, I…"

Oh, he was. He so was. My father was calling me – _18 year old me _– at four in the morning because "he needed to hear my voice". Why – oh why – wasn't I born a sea sponge? You cut a piece of it, you have a new one. No parents, no misery. All I wanted was to be born a sponge.

A shape-shifter badass sea sponge with wolfish powers if possible, of course.

Rachel didn't bother to hear the end of my father's nonsense, she stretched her arms, handing me the phone:

"Your father needs you. A father misses his son." She used the same zombie tone of before. I rolled my eyes from the couch:

"Tell him his son died in a tragic accident." She narrowed her eyes at me and – under the prospect of never doing what we were doing before again – I ran to the phone.

"Hello, father." My voice came out very controlled. I gritted my teeth. "How are you?" Next to me, with her arms crossed, Rachel leaned against the living room wall, an eyebrow raised.

"What – the – hell – are – you – DOING?" My mom's voice was so loud even Rachel's human ears heard it. Her eyes popped open in evil curiosity as she smirked and pressed the speakerphone button. We were both very quiet for a while, knowing too well what was about to come:

"I TOLD YOU not to call him! It's too late in the night you needy, _needy_ old man!" We tried really hard not to laugh.

"Oh, it's alright, love." My father tried to excuse himself. "He was awake, Rachel is there with him. See?" I could hear him pressing his own speakerphone button. "Why don't you talk to them?"

My mom's silent rage was almost palpable; I could hear her heavy breathing getting more and more uneven and I was sure she was doing her best not to murder my father right there.

"Rachel…is…" She started "SPENDING THE NIGHT at Paul's, and you…- you sad excuse for a father – you _call_ your son in the _middle of the night_? And when _she_ answers the phone you MAKE SMALL TALK?" Realization finally seemed to hit him.

"Oh." He concluded dully.

"Rachel, Paul… You two still there?" My mother's directed herself to both of us now. The situation kept getting worse, I couldn't believe just five minutes ago I had Rachel on top of me; it all looked like ancient History now. To my surprise, she was the one to answer my mother's calling:

"We're both here." She said, no longer laughing.

"Oh, darling, I'm so sorry about that but you know how _he_ gets, don't you?" Everyone knew my father too well; Rachel forced a chuckle:

"Of course." She said.

"Well, we're going to bed now, don't you worry about us anymore, I'm sure the two of you were really busy…"

"…going at it like rabbits." Rach completed her sentence causing me to have a minor stroke and some serious palpitation. I mouthed the word "WHAT?" but she didn't even flinch. My mom was speechless (and my mom is _never_ speechless; it only happened once before, the day she found out her usual "Passionate Ruby Red" nail polish was no longer to be produced. Dark times, dark times I tell you). I listened to the creepy silence for what appeared to be ages and I was sincerely starting to believe she had left our house and was about to appear on my door and murder both of us using a random kitchen device but in the end, all she did was laugh.

Laugh really loudly.

"Haha" she was guffawing. "You kids crack me up! I sincerely doubt that, dear." She might as well throw ice in my underwear. When your own mother doubts your charming skills, you feel pretty much as sexy as an oak tree. My jaw dropped in utter shock but my mom and Rachel kept going on a light conversation about how the two of us needed to talk; I could hear my father – they were no longer using their speakerphone – reminding my mom to advise us not to have sex 'cause it could hurt tiny baby Oprah.

The only thing keeping me from rolling my eyes was that at least he believed I could get some.

_Click_. The phone was finally off and the only noise was the torrential storm outside. I raised my head to face Rachel; she had her arms around herself, feeling cold without her other shirt and – I thought smugly – maybe, the touch of my skin. I couldn't force myself to say anything and somehow I knew something about her attitude had changed, I knew I shouldn't simply go back to what we were doing.

Seriously, if only I were a sea sponge.

"I'm off to bed." She said; eyes on the ground. I put one of my hands on her shoulder but she shook it off. "Don't." She burst. "Just don't."

"I don't get you." I said and my voice was hardly audible. Rach looked at me as if pondering whether or not to dignify that with an answer but, in the end, all she did was walk pass by me and grab her shirt from the floor. I started again:

"Rach, c'mon, I…"

"No!" She yelled. I was so surprised by that, she probably mistook my overwhelmed look by a hurt one 'cause her tone suddenly came out much softer. "Chill out, Pauline." She said in another voice completely. "You don't have to go all Freudian, putting your brains into understanding my actions or anything." She now had her shirt on her arms and kept staring at it. She passed by me again, this time heading to the guestroom. "You don't need to "get me", I'm not even gonna be here next month so, just…just chill, ok?" And, with that, she disappeared into her room. However, even before I could assimilate her words, her head popped out from the door again:

"Oh!" she said with a lighthearted smile, back to her old self. "Good night, Pauline!" She waved and winked and then left me alone in the living room again, more confused than ever.

I just have one question now; if we were all allowed to imprint on minors from the beginning, why couldn't I just have Bonnie Wright? Seriously, why not?

(End of part I)

**A/N:**_ Ok, guys, it's been a long time since I updated so I can't really keep track of those I replied and those I didn't reply so please, if I – for some reason – didn't reply to you, don't feel offended. Just leave a review and I'll reply BOTH. Now, As I told this is just a long scene and hardly a chapter at all. The next one is when all the good things happen, I already have pretty much all in my head so don't worry, it won't take long. It's not even Friday for them yet, so let's hope for the best when a new day comes! : D_

_Please, review! Lurv. _


	11. Chapter 11: Friday Again II

**Bada Bing Bada Boom**

**(Very Important) ****A/N: **_Ok, so this is still not the end. The only reason I'm updating a second part out of three is 'cause it was taking me so long to get the fic done, I felt sorry for the readers. So I'm sorry it's not the end yet but hopefully it'll be a good chapter._

**Chapter 11****: But Friday Never Hesitates… (Part II)**

When I left my bedroom the next morning – after half an hour of dressing up just to make sure I looked ok – it was already past ten and the sun was shinning brighter than ever; hard to believe just a few hours ago it had been raining cats and dogs in La Push.

"Morning." Said the other bipolar thing in Washington that summer.

"Morning!" I answered already feeling cheerier than a second before. Rachel handed me a coffee mug and walked to the couch, her eyes didn't even seem to be open, I wondered if she was sleepwalking.

"Rach, are you awake?" I asked hesitantly. She turned the TV on and reeled backwards like a zombie to the couch, her own coffee mug unsteady in her hands. She sat again, her nose pointing to the ceiling, eyes still closed. Somehow, she had managed to wake up, change her clothes (she was now wearing a stripped "I'm a Goonie" tee) and make us coffee. I tried again. "Rach?"

"Shh!" She said really loud, making my heart jump. "Don't talk to me right now. Becky always says I can get really bitchy before I have my morning coffee."

"Nonsense." I rolled my eyes, sitting by the kitchen counter. "I've seen you after your morning coffee already and there's no way you can get much bitchier than that." I counted exactly three seconds of silence.

"_What_?" Rachel turned around, still on her sitting position just to face me with a scary frown and I could hear the fabric of my couch being ripped by her nails.

You know, all in all, bravery is really overrated.

"What?" I asked pretending confusion, as if I hadn't said anything.

"You just said something." She accused me. "I heard you say something."

"Hm, you know what? Maybe you're right, Rach, you better drink this coffee soon, you're hearing things already. I haven't said a word." She stared at me, skeptically, for a few seconds.

"Oh well," she shrugged, turning to face the TV.

We were both quiet for some time, sipping from our mugs and the only sounds in the room were the songs playing on MTV Hits. When the coffee was cold enough, Rachel turned her drink at once on her mouth. She then turned around and smiled at me as if seeing me for the first time:

"Oh, Pauline! You're awake already?" She said suddenly very awake. "Now, now; I could swear I hadn't slept in those shorts!" She realized, looking down at her body. "Figures." She said pouting her lips, she then stood up and walked to the fridge. She started browsing cheerfully for food, a complete different person than the one she had been just a few seconds ago. She finally noticed the look on my face:

"Are you alright, Pauline? You look a little bewildered."

It's _you_, scary person!

"Hm, uh, it's nothing." I decided it was better not to go against the beast. She just watched me, one eyebrow raised:

"You're so weird, Pauline." She said shaking her head and facing the fridge again. Filthy hypocrite, I thought.

"Yeah, I'm a coo-coo. Now, Rach…" I took a deep breath, preparing myself. "Don't you think we should talk about what happened last night?" Rachel kept looking for food.

"What about last night?" She asked half-heartedly.

"You know; that thing that happened…" I tried. She closed the fridge door at once, holding a yogurt bottle. Her eyes widened in realization:

"Oh. That." She opened the yogurt bottle and came to stand next to me. "Don't worry about that, ok? Cracking your head open over it won't help you in anything. I mean, it's love, alright? Nobody does anything smart when they're moved by love. It was just what it was; an impulsive act of love!"

"Love?" I asked, incredulous, my heart stuck in my throat. "An impulsive act…of love?" I just couldn't believe it; _love_, she had said, _freaking love_.

"Love, sure." She placed her hand on top of mine. "If your parents didn't love you, why would they call you like that, in the middle of the night? She smiled again and turned the yogurt down her throat pretty much the same way she had done with her coffee earlier.

I took my hand from under hers.

"Are you for _real_?" She looked down at me again as if trying to understand why I was having such a bad reaction.

"Of course I'm for real, Paulie." She smiled. "You see, in college I had some psychology classes and this is actually a very common hab…"

"WHAT – THE HELL?" I shouted. "Why would you think I was talking about my parents?"

She stared at me blankly as 'till her expression became suspicious:

"Is that a rhetorical question?" She asked, I could feel one of my eyes twitching.

"You're _kidding_ me; you can only be _kidding_ me!" I started looking everywhere for a paper bag, just in case. Even if I didn't hyperventilate, I could still use it stick my head into it and try to suffocate but she finally seemed to realize the reason to all my despair:

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "You mean the _other_ thing that happened last night!" My whole body froze in anticipation as I expected her to finally come to her senses and seriously discuss the events of the night before.

"Oh, Pauline, don't be such a girl about it!" She waved me off with a giggle. "That was just some innocent smooching!" Of course, however, I should've known she'd find a way to mess things up.

"S-smooching?" I whispered dangerously, the words coming out of my mouth as a low, snake-like whistle. _"Smooching?"_

Rachel's eyes were wide open, not in fear but in total surprise like she was honestly shocked I had been so offended:

"_Snoopy_ and _Lucy Van Pelt_ smooched, Rachel, what we did was nothing, I repeat, _nothing_ like smooching!" I didn't even let her say anything. "What _we_ did was snogging, making out, gagging sugar, locking lips, planting a big one, zügenkiss!" I grasped for air and watched as her face became more and more disgusted each line. "Or as the Canadian would call it, we played tonsils hockey!" I threw my hands in the air dramatically and she blinked twice, bewildered.

"You watch Multilanguage porn?"

"That's besides the point!" I yelled.

It all went quiet for a moment and then, out of nowhere, the atmosphere soothed. At some point, I had stood up without even noticing so now Rachel and I were standing side to side, her hand on my shoulder and another tender smile on her lips:

"I'm sorry, Paulie, but we'd both be better off if we forgot what happened here yesterday. It _really_ was meaningless to me."

Ouch.

"Look, don't be offended, hm…"She bit her lower lip. "How do I put this?" Her eyes traveled the room and stopped on her right hand. "Oh, I know!" She held the yogurt to my face. "You know how some people are lactose intolerant? Let's say I'm kinda like that but with relationships instead of dairy products." I raised an eyebrow at her:

"Meaning that, if you happened to have a boyfriend, you would get sick and fart a lot?" She scowled and I shivered. "Ok, go ahead."

"You see my point, don't you? Even though getting into relationships is good for most people to me is poisonous. It might not kill me but it'll hurt me and cause me all sorts of agony and embarrassment. It'd be extremely prejudicial to me and everyone around me." She just said the same thing I did but poetically, didn't she?

"Rach, I'm a person, I'm not yogurt." She seemed to consider my point for half a second and then shrugged.

"It's all the same to me." She said, throwing the empty yogurt bottle on the bin with great aim. "Now, why don't you change your clothes and we enjoy these last few days of me being here, uh? C'mon, we're going to the market, I'm cooking for you tonight again." She patted my shoulder a couple of times and went back to the couch. "As for yesterday, for me it's like it never happened at all so you should probably act the same."

From the counter, I watched the reflex of her figure lying on my sofa and swallowed any words that tried to come out just so I could grant her wishes. Her image kept getting mixed up with Nelly Furtado's face on the video MTV Hits was showing that moment. The lyrics went something like:

"_She's a maneater/make you buy cars/__make you cut cards/Wish you never ever met her at all/Never ever met her at all!/you wish you never ever met her at all!/you wish you never ever met her at all!"_

I stared at the bin and the empty yogurt bottle lying there, forgotten and used and admired the irony of it all.

"It's all the same to me." She had said.

- -

It's impossible, I had thought, that she'd manage to simply erase from her memories the events of last night; however, there we were, half an hour after our argument, acting friendly as we browsed the market for groceries. Oh, I thought bitterly, I remember a time – not so long ago – when I used to have balls.

"Rach, c'mon, won't you even tell me the reasons that made you do it?" I tried for the thousandth time that morning. She looked vaguely into my eyes, pondering:

"Wheener."

"_What?"_

"I say, we need sausages, right?" My heart slowly went back to its normal pace.

"Don't play me like that, she-devil." She laughed and rolled her eyes at me.

"Get over yourself, Pauline."

"You can't simply ignore something happened just cause it's better for your conscience, Rachel. Nobody does that!"

"Wrong!" She said smirking. "Catholic church and politicians do it all the time." She sighed in awe. "Plus, I have no idea what you're talking about, anyway."

"Oh, shut up." By this time I was so frustrated I was about to stick my head inside the frozen food department – between nuggets and a turkey – just so I could slowly die of hypothermia. She laughed out loud:

"Catch me if you can, Pauline!" If she wanted to take my mind of the subject, it worked. We both had our own shop carts and, with one strong impulse of her feet, she rushed, leaving me behind, a few seconds later, I followed her.

I chased her as we used the shop carts under parts as skate boards:

"I should probably give you some advantage, Black." I said with a smirk. "You do realize, I'm literally, inhumanly fast, don't you?" She turned around with a scowl, she hated being challenged.

"All bark and no bite, right, Fido?" Everything started moving in slow motion. I watched as Rach lost balance for a second and I got a glimpse of her surprised face as she lost control of the cart. In less than a heartbeat, I let go of my own cart and raced towards her, catching her just before she hit the ground. She seemed a bit overwhelmed and even a little dazzled she then looked at me and said:

"Suppose this is the moment you'll say something sappy like "I'll always be here to catch you when you fall."?" I chuckled half relieved, half proud of myself. Her smirk disappeared and she said: "Nice catch, loverboy, now get off me." I couldn't do that, though, it felt too nice to have her like that, in my arms. "Paul, watch out!" She shouted staring at something behind me. I turned around just in time to see my shop cart coming towards us at full speed (my speed by the way). You see, usually, I'd just have stopped the cart with one hand but maybe it was because I was too dazzled by Rachel being in my arms, or too nervous because of her scared shout but what happened next was only partially my fault.

It was reflex, really, all I did was raise an arm to stop the cart and defend Rachel so I just slapped it a bit so it would change directions I didn't, however, remember to control my force so it was no surprise when the cart went flying all the way through the market, hit a olive oil shelf, breaking most of the products and finally landed loudly on the cash register number two.

Ok, I admit it. It was _mostly_ my fault.

--

"I can't believe you got us expelled from a market!" Rachel's face was flushed both by anger and embarrassment. "What kind of secret legendary warrior are you if you can't even stop a _shopping cart_?"

"Jeez, Paul, thanks for saving my ass back there. You're the best." I muttered to myself what I had expected her to say.

"You're impossible, now I can't cook you dinner, this means we'll have to go out for food. Do you understand what that means?"

"Dressing up, spending money and, maybe, food poison?" I tried.

"No!" She shouted throwing her arms in the air. "It means I'll have to be seeing around town in _your_ company!" That was rude, Rachel was evil and – honestly quite bipolar – but she was hardly ever rude. I could see she was really mad at me, I had no idea she cared so much about being accepted in markets and stuff.

"Hey, that was harsh and gratui…" But before I could finish my sentence a female voice called me from near:

"Paul!" The voice yelled, I recognized it as being Kim's voice.

"Kim?" I turned around to see a tiny girl running towards me.

"Kim? Who's Kim?" I heard Rachel asking. Kim approached us and stopped at my side, trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, man, you guys have long legs. Jared heard the two of you from a few blocks away and I ran here to see if you guys were here." She then smiled at me and I patted her on the head.

"How are you doing, Kimmeleon?" I said, we all had this stupid habit of calling Kim different variations of her name. I had been the one to start it and it wasn't until then, when I was standing next to Rachel; that I realized from where I had gotten the idea.

"Oh I'm fine!" But I could see her eyes were both curiously focused on the girl behind me. I smile, typical Kim.

"Kim, this is Rachel Black." Kim smiled from ear to ear like she knew a secret Rachel didn't.

"Uh…"Maybe Rach was a bit shocked by Kim's cheerfulness but it took her a bit to answer. "Nice to meet you, Kim." I then saw Jared jogging in our direction.

"Hey, bro, nice seeing you." I said, he smiled at me and then at Rachel.

"Rachel B." he said "What a pleasure." Seeing Jared Rachel understood everything.

"I'm assuming you too have a wild side then." She said. Jared laughed out loud and so did Kim. They were so in sync it was scary.

"I guess you could say that." He turned to me again. "What you guys doing around here?" Rachel and I stared at each other.

"Shopping." We said in unison.

"Oh, I see. So were me and Kimmie but we…" Kim blushed and Jared laughed, caressing her hair. "We got expelled from the market by the new manager."

"Oh…did you?" Rachel asked, impressed. "What are the odds? We were expelled too."

"Is that so? Well, they're such prudes. I kissed Kim and next thing I new the guy was preaching me about that not being a good behavior and a whole bunch of crap. So, why did you guys got expelled?" Once again, Rachel and I glanced at each other before answering; we pondered for a second what would be less humiliating and then nodded our head:

"Yeah, that was totally it, same reason here, dude." We said in agreement.

"Yeah, kissing is bad behavior." She said after me. Jared grinned.

"Good to know you two are getting along then." He sighed. "Well, now that you saw what you wanted, Kim, can we go?" Kim smiled and nodded her head. "Well, we are off." They were already on their way when Kim suddenly turned around and ran towards us again. She looked at Rachel.

"What?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow but before she could say anything else, Kim threw her arms around her. Rachel gasped and looked at me with the biggest "wtf" expression I had ever seen. I guffawed. Just as she had come, though, Kim ran away, Jared waved at us one last time and we watched them as they parted.

"What was _that_ about?" She asked me once they were far enough – even though I'm pretty sure Jared could still hear us – I smiled at her:

"Well, couldn't you tell?" She crossed her arms and we started walking back home again.

"She's his imprint." She said that much after a while. "I could see that much. He walked around him, like she was some pet or something." I smiled bitterly:

"Is that what you think? Some would say is exactly the opposite." I sighed; Rachel stared at me and grunted:

"Well, if you think you're my pet then just forget me." I didn't dignify that stupid comment with an answer. She looked at me. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way; I know you can't actually forget me."

"Great." I said absently. We walked quietly side by side for a little longer.

"How did they get together?"

"What?"

"Jared and Kim, how it happened for them?" I was surprised she was asking me those questions but I answered anyway.

"He saw her, he imprited. He had never looked at her twice even though they studied together and then, one day, there she was. Luckily for him, though, she had been secretly in love with him, like, her whole life." Rachel frowned.

"How pathetic."

"What?"

"You're telling me that girl was genuinely happy when she found out the guy she liked for years was now forced to like her? Doesn't she have any pride?"

"Oh, she does." I answered with a smirk. "I'm not saying she took things lightly. Jared went through hell." Rachel didn't ask anything but I kept going. "At first she wouldn't believe him at all, she'd stalk him like crazy just cause she was convinced he had done one of those teenage movie bets with someone from our school, then she stopped talking to him, then she burned some of his clothes by accident while yelling at him and when he tried writing her a song, she punched him. And, don't get me wrong, Kim is small and all but that girl can throw a punch." Rachel stared at me in shock.

"But she eventually gave in?"

"Giving in is not the correct expression. She accepted it, Jared loved her, imprinting makes you love someone, sure, and it might sound mandatory to you but the reason you imprint is because that person is perfect for you and she would be perfect for you even if you weren't a werewolf. Imprint only shows you the way; it doesn't really control your heart."

"Except it does." She said. We were quiet again until she spoke. "Any chance you'd know why the weirdo hugged me back there?" I laughed.

"That's Kim for you."

"I guess that settles it then." She answered ironically.

"No, you don't get it." I said, calming her down. "Kim is great but she was never good at making friends so she finds this whole wolf thing awesome, really. The whole brotherhood and all, to her, all the other imprints are like sisters – the girl is so nice even Leah likes her."

"Leah likes her?"

"Yes." Leah's opinion was always a important matter for Rachel.

"I see." Silence again, this time we walked a whole five minutes without a word.

"I think I can admire someone like that."

"Uh?"

"Someone like that girl, I mean,…" Rachel stared at her own shoes. "She's thankful people like her, she's ok with being loved and she can simply be nice to people who want her best. That's something I can admire."

"Meaning you'll try to be more thankful towards me and maybe, just maybe, try and be more affectionate?" I said half joking, half hoping for an answer. Rachel smiled at me her vilest smile:

"The only thing about me that wants to be more affectionate towards you is my fist against your face, Pauline." I laughed cause I knew – or just hoped, really – she was joking.

"Aren't you the sweetest thing?" I said. And I meant it.

**A/N: **_Once again, I'm sorry it's not the end yet but it was taking me ages to write and it was getting so long, I felt like I owed you a new chapter. Please read and review and hopefully this part II will help me write part 3 (and the last) much, much faster. Happy Holidays everyone and, please review. _

_It wasn't the funniest of chapters but hey, we're hitting a climax, things are supposed to be serious. Hopefully someday I'll write more Kim/Jared so I can show you the hell the poor guy went through with his Kim. _


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